dreaming of the seaside
by needoo
Summary: In a small seaside community in the south of Japan, local police have tired of a half-century long string of inexplicable drownings and have reached out to SPR to help them. Though their surroundings look like a oceanic dream, there is something sinister lurking underneath the pretty blue of the ocean. SPR have years of experience, but are they prepared for what's in store?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hello! This is my first publication on this site, and I'm a little nervous. The Ghost Hunt fandom is kind of dead [:-((] so I'm uploading this first chapter to see if there is anyone willing to follow it. I want to follow this story through, but it won't be all that fun if no one is around to go through it with me. So pls give me your thoughts and whether you want me to get the rest of this story done! ooo this is exciting. Okay, I don't own Ghost Hunt! Have fun!**

* * *

It was a rather childish notion, but Mai had always believed that there was magic hidden in the rays of sunlight. She liked to close her eyes and tilt her face up towards the sky, let the sun's warmth soak into her skin. It made her feel steadier, a little more ready to face the day. After several hours in a cramped van with her two silent companions and a handful of cameras and monitors, Mai really needed a bit of sun to feel sane again.

Now that she and her coworkers were at their destination, Mai marveled at the relief stretching her legs granted her. The summer heat would have been stifling, but the salty breeze that drifted through the strands of her hair made the sun seem less like heat and more like a warm glow. It helped that Mai was wearing a pair of jean shorts and a light tank top. Her hair, which had grown longer over the years, was tied up in a ponytail so the back of her neck wasn't being suffocated.

If it weren't for the nature of SPR's work, Mai could have pretended she was on vacation. She could see it quite clearly, this alluring fantasy: her and her found family out at the coast for a week to lie on the beach and make friends with the waves. It would have been a wonderful time. As it was, just being in the sun with the distant sound of the ocean crashing into the beach washing over her made the sensation all the more magical.

"I don't pay you to play photosynthesis, Mai," interrupted the voice of her boss, breaking the serene calmness the sunlight had created within her mind. Mai ignored him, too annoyed with him for having snapped at her several times during the drive. Maybe her fantasy of a 'dream vacation' were not well grounded in reality. She didn't think this man clad in all black (though, to be fair, he too was wearing thinner clothing. The heat wave that had hit southern Japan was no joke.) knew of the connotations associated with the word _fun_.

See, Oliver Davis, aliased Shibuya Kazuya, also known as Naru, was an impatient man and had no tolerance for Mai's fidgeting in the backseat. As if Mai had any control of her bladder, or of the fact that there were no pit stops for three hours straight, or even a single thing to keep her happily distracted. Oliver wasn't the one whose bladder had almost exploded, he had no right to get so testy. But Mai shouldn't be surprised. Oliver hated distractions, especially noisy ones in a hot car on a winding, bumpy road.

Mai blinked away from the sky at the sound of another van pulling up to the beachside castle. She could already see that Takigawa was annoyed. He brought the van to a jerky stop besides the van Lin, Oliver and Mai had driven down to Minatzu in, the brakes screeching in a foreboding way. Preferring to avoid Ayako and Takigawa's arguing, because of course they would start arguing after four hours in a cramped vehicle together, Mai rushed ahead to join Oliver in greeting their latest client. She was looking forward to meeting Ichida Yunosuke, a kind retired detective that had reached out to Shibuya Psychic Research or SPR for short, Oliver's paranormal investigative service. He had pleaded kindly for SPR to take the case, and Mai's heart had ached for him.

Mai knew, theoretically, that Ichida lived in a beach house in a small seaside village filled with retired wealth. She had been the one to act as a correspondence between Oliver and the elder man. All the details of the case had been passed to and then passed on by Mai, so she knew that Mr. Ichida had a " _manor on the beach passed down from my father."_ But somehow, Mai was still not prepared for what awaited her.

From the drive up the road, Mai knew that Ichida's residence was located at the top of a modest looking hill. The vibrant green grass of the hill made the light blue walls of the house feel more welcoming. Not that the house needed help in that arena, as the wide windows and several floors and _marble entranceway_ had it covered. Mai was almost afraid to put her shoes anywhere near the spotless marble, too afraid of damaging it in anyway. But, Ichida, and her boss, and Lin were all waiting.

The beach house was as grand on the inside as it was on the outside. Mai was happy to see that the sun shone through the many windows of the home, making the house seem much more pleasant than Ichida's accounts had made it out to be. The walls were a bright white color for as far as Mai could see, and the floor was also a gleaming marble. There was a grand staircase that twisted up into the second floor, and a wall decorated with pictures of boats and sea shells right off the entranceway. Mai could hear Oliver and Lin discussing in the sitting room, and Mai moved to join them as soon as she managed to convince herself to stop gawking at the house.

But when she walked into the sitting room, Mai found herself gawking at something else.

Standing in the center of the sunlight spilling into the room was Oliver looking as handsome as ever. His pale skin was quite literally shining, and it stood out starkly against his navy blue button down and plain black slacks. Upon her entering, Oliver glanced over and his clear, blue eyes washed over Mai like a cold drink in the summer heat.

(Mai fought hard to keep that soul consuming affection to overtake her entirely, because she and Oliver had suffered through several extremely awkward and stilted months before achieving this ease and comfort with each other, and there was no way in all of Hell that Mai would risk it. Even if her heart pined for it so desperately it sometimes physically pained her)

 _He looks like a painting_ , Mai couldn't help but think to herself, but then managed to force her eyes to look away. It was a good thing that the summer heat already had her red in the face. This way, no one could tell she was blushing furiously. Except maybe Oliver, who was too smart (yet too dumb) for his own good. And he was looking at her with that calculating gleam in his eye. To distract herself from her boss's gaze, Mai hurried over to the windows to take in the view.

"Wow!" She exclaimed, attention easily captured by the beautiful picture on the other side of the glass. As the house was settled atop a hill, it overlooked a pink, sandy beach and then the beautiful blue ocean. In the midday sun, the ocean shimmered and blinked, and Mai's skin ached to feel the cool water surround her. Wanting to see whether the ocean was calm or throwing rampant waves today, Mai eagerly pulled the baby blue curtains aside. "The ocean is right there! It looks so pretty in the sun."

"Be careful Miss Taniyama; the ocean is more dangerous than she looks." Said a spritely old man wandering down the winding staircase. His voice startled Mai, causing her to jump where she stood and almost trip over the curtains. She caught herself before she could land on her face, stumbling over to where Oliver and Lin were standing. The quirk of Lin's lips told Mai that her little fumble did not go unnoticed. That was okay, though. Over the years, SPR had beared witness to worse things than Mai tripping over herself.

"Mr. Ichida." Mai said, smiling at him with happy eyes. She rushed over to greet him with a bow, and laughed happily when he pulled her into a warm hug. "It is nice to finally meet you. And, please, call me Mai."

"Ah, Mai. You are as wonderful as I pictured you, perhaps even more so." Ichida told her with his rough voice. "And I assume you are Mr. Shibuya." He turned to Lin and Oliver, holding his hand out to Oliver for a shake. Mai snuck a smile behind her hand; she had warned Ichida beforehand as to who was who, and it was apparent that he had paid attention to her. She decided she liked him that much more.

"Mr. Ichida." Oliver took his hands for a brief moment, and then stepped to the side so Lin could also make his greetings. "Have you prepared the rooms we asked for?"

"Straight to business, I see," the old man laughed. Mai found herself a little amazed at how cheery he was. Considering the nature of their visit, Mai had expected him to look a little haggard or stressed out, but Ichida had sunbeams spilling from his crinkled eyes and a wide, happy smile on his face. "Yes, the rooms are ready. Your base is just down the hall, left of the kitchen, and your two bedrooms are upstairs, both to the right of the staircase."

Mai quickly repeated the directions over in her head, and then again, and then a third time. She wasn't going to get lost this time around, no she would not. The team wouldn't be able to make fun of her anymore. She had come a long way from the clumsy high schooler she had been when she first became a part of the paranormal world. She had matured, sometimes by brute force while other times by pure will, and she had grown up. Working with dead people never really got easier, but Mai had come to an understanding with that harsh reality. She would do her best, work with her team, _keep them safe_ , and try with all that she was to save those souls that had suffered long enough.

Once Mai felt confident enough that she would not get lost, she returned to the conversation in time to hear,

"...and my daughter will be around by mid afternoon. She's working all the time now, and this house is on her roster. She'll be able to tell you whatever my report has missed." He was at the entrance to the sitting room, moving out into the hallway with Lin and Oliver at his stead. Mai rushed over to join them, mindful of all carpets and doorways because, sure, Mai was a young woman now and she was respected by her peers and her family, but she absolutely refused to trip over anything ever again.

"So, I'll be heading out now. My son's wife is in labor, and if I'm not there to watch him faint at the sight of his baby girl, then what was fatherhood really for?" Ichida said, his face glowing with his delight. Mai cheered almost unwittingly, already picturing the sweet bundle of joy about to be welcomed into this world with all the love a single grandfather could ever give to his grandchild.

"Congratulations!" She cried, shooting forward to hug the man. For a split second, Mai was ready to reprimand herself. She'd been in contact with the man for weeks, felt she knew him quite well, but he was still virtually a stranger. But he accepted her hug easily, bouncing with her like it was the most natural thing in the world.

After the two of them had calmed down, Ichida went over a few last minute details. It was all business, things that bored Mai half to death, so when Oliver nodded, which meant Mia should nod too, she did. When Ichida started going over details about the house, Mai tuned back in.

"It's the first floor that you should really be worried about, but the third floor can be troublesome, too. Not much has happened since my last email to Mai, just somemore wailing and banging on the walls. Oh! Before I forget," Ichida had stopped suddenly at the front entrance. He reached into a briefcase resting on a console table and pulled out a manilla folder. "These are the police reports and a few numbers I thought might be useful. They've been color coded in reference to the police reports, and the last one right there is my cell phone. Don't hesitate to call me if there are any concerns or issues."

When Ichida looked back up from the files, his face was suddenly ten times more grim than it had been only moments before. Gone were his million watt smile and happy eyes. Now he looked serious, the way Mai had come to expect most of their clients to look like. This was when the gravity of the situation would settle over Mai like a steel blanket.

"Keep the young ladies safe, Mr. Kazuya." Ichida requested solemnly. "They are in the most danger at night. We have lost enough, I don't think we could bear to lose another." His gaze was so fierce but sad, and Mai knew he meant those words. Though Minatzu was not his home, not really, Ichida was a dedicated police officer in his bones.

Oliver's gaze, when Mia glanced at it, was as steely as it could get. And not in the way that meant he was contemplating using his expansive vocabulary _and_ his PK abilities to destroy someone, but in the way that meant that he was about to give his absolute all to get the job done. It sent shivers down Mia's spine.

"We will solve this case, Mr. Ichida." Oliver said.

And just like that, the smile was back on Ichida's face. He bowed one last time, gave Mai a wink over Oliver's shoulder, and then slipped out the front door and past the rest of the SPR gang dawdling in the front yard.

Lin disappeared into the house, most likely to start setting up the base, but Oliver and Mai watched Ichida make his way down the sloping road. Oliver only looked away when the retired detective stepped into his car. He looked down at Mai, at the delicate flush on her shoulders and on the tip of her nose, and tamped down on the urge to force her to put on some sunscreen with the ease of long practice.

"Mai." He said, and then stopped when she looked back at him with that sharp smile of hers.

"I know," she responded, stepping off the porch. "I'm on it."

It took them less than an hour to get the base set up. It could have been less than 45 minutes had Takigawa and Ayako not spent several minutes greeting Mai and then chiding her for not having applied sunscreen beforehand. Mai rolled her eyes at their antics, but she loved it. It was always nice to be cared for, especially after going without for so long. Mai would never forget her parents, would never replace them. Ayako and Takigawa had their own places in her heart, right beside her parents, and she loved them dearly.

She loved the whole team so much she thought it would actually explode out of her sometimes.

Masako and John arrived with Ayako and Takigawa, which also helped them all get the base set up so quickly. Usually, it's Oliver, Mai and Lin that arrive at the location first and it's up to them to get the base ready. Them here means Mai. The two men often help Mai bring all the monitors and wires and cameras in, but then they busy themselves with other things while Mai is left to get the shelves up and the monitors situated. She's become an expert at it over the years, but Mai has always been on the smaller side no matter how much exercise she's tried to do, and she has a limit. It was very nice to not have to do everything on her own, and she figured she should find some time to make them dinner to show her gratitude.

Their base room was located in what was probably meant to be a library, but was more like another lounge room. It followed the theme of the rest of the house: white walls and a very peaceful ocean glow to everything. This room was accented with pale purples and pinks instead of all shades of blue, and Mai loved it. One wall was left bare so they had a place to put up their monitors, and connect all their wires. Occupying the whole of the wall opposite to that of the monitors were steel bookshelves. They were almost bare save for a few scenic photographs in frames and decorative statues and vases. Mai was afraid to go near it in case she lost control of her body and broke anything. Opposite the door to the base was a beautiful pair of glass doors that opened up into a balcony overlooking the sea.

All in all, this room was quite possibly Mai's favorite room ever. With the sun still going strong in the early afternoon, the room was alight with dancing sunshine. It was almost unerringly peaceful in there.

At the moment, though, SPR were too busy with their case to sit back and enjoy their surroundings.

"I hope I get a little tan while we're here." Ayako was saying airily as she made several charms for the bedrooms. "I think it would look good with my hair." It was clear that she wasn't really paying any attention to what she was saying, too busy keeping her brushstrokes as neat as possible. And that was fine, because no one else was really paying attention.

Takigawa, her supportive boyfriend (much to SPR's relief after years of watching them bicker over the very blatant romantic tension between them), hummed noncommittally. He was looking over the files Oliver had likely already memorized and left for the others to go over. He had his hand wrapped around Ayako's waist, which was all the miko needed to feel like she was being involved.

Mai was sat besides Lin, her own laptop open on her lap. Oliver had tasked her with finding as much information on the witnesses in the police report as she could, and was scribbling dutifully into her own black journal. It was tedious, and Mai was already tense with the want to move and do something. But it was important to the case, so Mai took a lap around the base every now and then, when the words on the file started to blur. Mai really wanted to run down to the beach, but this case was more serious than any of the ones SPR had taken on recently. It required their full attention, both for their safety and for the safety of everyone else involved.

Since Mai and John had already set up the cameras and Oliver had already given Mai a task, he, John and Masako were out doing a walkthrough of the home. It could have been seen as slightly excessive to have three of their big players out on a mission, but this case was a big deal.

The facts were this: Over the last five decades, almost two dozen young women had been killed by the ocean. And not in any accidental drownings, or even in horrible boating accidents. These girls had walked right into the ocean with a glazed look in their eyes. Before the girls had started dying, there had been organized chaos. Most of the houses on the beach would be ransacked, left with bloody messages on their doors and windows, all relaying the same memo: _Stay away from the water!_ Most of the properties on the beachfront were vacated after the disturbances became more sinister: people were attacked, voices could be heard screaming for help, the beach trembled and the walls of the homes shook. The reason the case had finally been brought to SPR's attention was because, in the past few months, all types of people were being viciously dragged towards the beach. All men, young girls and older women had never made it past the surf, but a few young women had been or were almost drowned. The police force had been trying to explain it all away as some psychotic killer, but the evidence was building up and leaning in the direction of the paranormal. Ichida had gotten tired of the attacks as soon as they started, but after weeks of waiting for his juniors in the force to admit that they needed help, he had done it for them.

So, all precautions were to be taken on this case. A few years ago, Mai would have probably complained. But after a few close calls, not all of them involving Mai, the brunette had readjusted her outlook on her value to the people around her and what her injuries cost them. It was a lot like what their injuries cost her. When Mai sat down and thought about it, it made perfect sense. But it was hard to accept that, especially when Mai had believed at the ripe age of eleven that she would not have a family again.

A few minutes after Ayako had finished her last charm, Masako, Oliver and John returned to base. Mai looked up from her notes to find Masako being mostly supported by John, looking a little paler than usual. Her eyes shot to Oliver, who did not look bothered or worried. His deep blue eyes caught Mai's amber ones, soft at the edges in the way that meant to be reassuring. Mai relaxed, then dropped her pen and set to making some tea.

"Masako feels a presence," Oliver announced to the room once Masako slumped into the couch near Ayako to be tended to, "but cannot identify who or what it is. It's strong, but distant." He had turned away from where he had been looking out at the ocean, and looked at Masako to say, "Once you are feeling better, you should take Takigawa and Ayako to examine the beach."

Masako gave a faint not and Oliver returned to his seat beside Lin. Mai went around the room to pass out tea, stopping a moment to make sure that Masako was okay and force an energy bar into the small medium's porcelain hand. As soon as Masako had swallowed her last bite under the watchful eyes of Mai and the miko, Ayako resumed checking her over. Though Masako did her best to sound annoyed, no one could deny the warmth in her eyes.

"Ayako finished the protection charms." Mai informed her boss as she returned to her seat between him and Lin. When the two men failed to respond, Mai continued on with, "Hey, Naru. I don't know if Mr. Ichida told you this, but there's a young girl that almost drowned a few days ago. She's not that far from here, so we should probably give her a visit and ask her a few questions. She's one of two survivors of the drownings, and the other girl is abroad."

Oliver turned to her then, his chin tucked into his hand in his signature thinking pose. He looked ridiculously handsome, it was so unfair. "Did the report say anything about how she managed to survive?"

Mai hummed, glancing quickly over her notes. She was good at her job, but her brain didn't chug at the same caliber that Oliver's did. And her handwriting was kind of messy. And her pen had smudged a few times where Mai's wrist had run over the fresh ink.

"Nope," Mai declared after a few seconds, popping her lips. "There's a note that says she, and I quote, "'was thinking on a matter that was far away from the hospital room.' I'm not surprised, she must be traumatized."

Mai had had a few dreams about drownings. It was kind of morbid that she could categorize her case related dreams by the different ways of dying. There were drownings, stranglings, fires, horrible accidents, and more brutal murders that Mai tried really hard not to think about, ever. In a horrible way, drowning always seemed kind of peaceful to Mai. Sure, the burn in the lungs was absolutely terrible, but the feel of the water surrounding her had always felt a little like a hug. The dying part, on the other hand, sometimes made Mai flinch away from water. Just thinking about it lit a small fire in her lungs, and Mai unconsciously rubbed at her chest.

"I can't believe you could read that scribble you call writing." Oliver's voice broke through Mai's thoughts and ignited the familiar fire of indignation.

Mai dropped her hand and turned her narrowed eyes to Oliver. He was sat comfortably, leaning back in the luxury chair left for them to use, with one ankle balanced on his knee and the barest hint of a smirk on his face.

"This is perfectly legible." Mai argued back, taking her journal and holding it up for both of them to inspect. She immediately regretted that decision. "Okay, maybe it's a little hard to read-"

"Or to even look at," Oliver kindly interjected.

"But," Mai huffed, pursing her lips in that telltale sign of annoyance, "that's hardly my fault. My brain just thinks faster than my hand can write. You should be glad to see that my handwriting is such a mess."

Oliver blinked at Mai slowly, as if marveling at her stupidity. Mai was very familiar with that expression.

"I would expect any honorable scholar to have the dedication to their studies to stay organized and _legible._ " He bit back, voice as monotone as ever. The humor in his eyes was hard to spot, but Mai was used to their game of back and forth and recognized it. Still, she grumbled under her breath about _just try to ever get me to take notes like this again and you'll see what I have to say about that_.

A good hour later, Masako was feeling strong enough to try the beach. Mai was secretly glad Masako had started wearing modern clothing to cases because the heat and the layers of the kimono would have surely caused a heat stroke. Instead of the kimonos Masako still wore whenever she made any TV appearances or went to conventions, she wore ridiculously expensive form fitting jeans and a pale green blouse that complimented her eyes wonderfully. She looked amazing.

"Make sure you stick together." Oliver reminded the trio before they headed out. Ayako nodded along, making sure her bag had enough water bottles for the three of them. She was vehemently against heatstroke. Takigawa and Masako looked just as solemn, though Masako also had an air of eagerness to her. Mai understood. She too wanted to dig her heels into the sand and feel the ocean spray against her face.

"I won't let them out of my sight." Takigawa promised. "You keep an eye on Jou-chan. I want her looking just as I left her."

Mai paused from helping Masako get sunscreen on the skin of her back to groan at the man that had become like a brother to her. "Monk! I can keep myself out of trouble. Don't worry about me and focus on yourself, please."

Monk swept Mai into his arms before she could even blink. "But Mai! You're my precious little girl. I'm always going to worry."

Mai struggled fruitlessly against Monk's iron grip. At least she could still kind of breathe.

"Oi!" Ayako shouted suddenly, bag snug over her shoulder and sun hat settled fashionably over her luscious red locks. "Stop crushing Mai so we can get to work. The sooner we get this case solved, the sooner I can focus on getting my skin to glow golden."

"I hope you brought wrinkle cream, Ayako." Masako cut in haughtily. Her lips were dripping with mirth, and her eyes were laughing. Ayako's shriek of outrage disappeared into the hallways as the trio of ghost hunters headed out of the house. Mai shook her head wistfully, trying to remember the day that Masako switched from antagonistic insults to friendly banter.

"We've come a long way, haven't we Naru?" Mai sighed happily. "We're more like friends now, less like people forced to work together."

Oliver, who was still standing besides Mai, humored the girl by inclining his head. Together, they moved back towards the monitors. Lin had gone out with John to get food for their dinner, so it was just Mai and Oliver in the building at the moment. Yasuhara wouldn't be available for a few days as he was busy preparing for an exam that he could not afford to miss.

"I can still remember when I thought you were full of yourself. How little I knew then. I'm ashamed of that now." Mai was thinking aloud, something she tended to do when her mind wandered.

She glanced at her boss and saw that he was looking at her with a pointed expression.

Outraged, Mai spat out, "It wasn't all my fault! You did all you could to convince me that you were indeed Naru the Narcissist. I'd only known you for a good few hours at that point, okay. I had no other experience to dissuade me."

"Careful examination is important, Mai." Oliver pointed out helpfully.

"Well, duh." Mai responded. "But I was a kid. The only thing I could carefully examine was -" _was the way I felt towards you,_ "- the gossip my school spread like wildfire. And ghost stories, but mostly for how frightening they were."

Oliver was quiet for a moment, eyes fixed on the screens. Mai was used to the way he lapsed into silence, and remained happy enough to stand besides him and supply an extra pair of eyes. But then Oliver spoke. "I think, of all of us, you've come the farthest."

Mai's head snapped to look at Oliver. He was looking down at her with the sincerest eyes he possessed. They were Mai's favorite. And she couldn't look away. She felt the small smile bloom on her lips and the pleased flush that erupted in her cheeks, but she could not even bat an eye. She was transfixed on Oliver and the warmth in his expression.

 _I want to kiss you,_ Mai thought unbiddenly.

Then, with a soft pop, all the light in the room disappeared. Not just the fluorescent light bulbs from overhead and the grey reflection from the monitor screens. No, the sunlight was suddenly gone, like the sun had been plucked from the sky.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: ! thank you so much for the support! this chapter is a little shorter but i'm trying to keep from rushing through everything. and i don't want the chapters to be too long either. as for some answers to some questions i have** **received:**

 **this story is occurring quite a while after the end of the anime series. everyone knows about Oliver's identity and Gene. Mai is twenty and Naru is twenty one. they are much more mature now, though just as emotionally constipated towards each other as always (so they're not together ... yet).**

 **also, on a more serious note, this work is going to cover some very serious stuff. i'll be sure to include trigger warnings and everything before each chapter, but I want to get that out there. feel free to share your thoughts with me, as well as what you think of the plot and the way i'm writing the characters. i hope i am doing them justice. I do not own Ghost Hunt!**

* * *

Mai couldn't see the tip of her nose. She couldn't see the hand she was holding out in front of her in an instinctual act of defense. When she turned her head, Mai couldn't see Oliver standing just a few inches to her left. She couldn't see anything at all. It was like someone had reached into her brain and turned off her eyes.

Frightened (what paranormal entity was strong enough to make the sun _turn off, what the heck_ ), Mai reached out to grasp onto whatever piece of Oliver she could find. As soon as her fingers found the crisp material of his button down, Oliver's hands grabbed her arms and pulled her closer to him.

"I can't see anything." She hissed at the general direction of Oliver's head.

"Neither can I." The general direction of Oliver's head whispered back. "Stay close to me, Mai."

Before Mai could tell Oliver that leaving him was never an option, the air around them erupted into violent screams. Now, Mai had always been empathetic. She sympathized, and felt pain at witnessing other people's pain. It was her greatest weakness and her greatest strength. And it never failed to get her into trouble, be it the life threatening or horrifyingly embarrassing kinds. This, though, was something else. This was like someone had drained all the blood from her body and replaced it with ice cold lead. Mai couldn't tell how much of it was her reacting to the horrible wails, and how much was her latent sensitivity doing its job.

"Naru!" Mai gasped, hands shooting up to cover her ears. Not that it helped. Oliver pulled Mai in by her waist until she was flush against him. Mai was too busy being frozen and overwhelmed to think about the unmoving wall of Oliver's strength radiating warmth into her own skin. Mai had priorities, and their immediate safety was at the top of the list. They needed to stick together incase matters took a violent turn (and with Mai's luck, they were very likely to).

" _Help me, please! I don't want to die!"_

" _I can't. I can't swim anymore, stop!"_

" _It hurts! Help! It hurts!"_

" _GET OUT!"_

At the last voice, the room exploded into activity. The lights and the sunlight returned to the room, some of the bulbs actually exploding with the ferocity of their power. Mai flinched away from the sudden influx of light, slipping behind Oliver as he stepped forward. It took Mai a bit of blinking to see that almost everything in the room was vibrating violently, even falling off shelves and splintering with cracks.

From what Ichida shared with Mai, this seemed like all the problems the beachfront houses experienced over the years, only dialed up from . This was concerning. Only seriously powerful and pissed off spirits started acting up at the first presence of strangers, and only seriously powerful, pissed off, and _very_ dangerous spirits were able to make a whole room look like it was shaking with fright. Mai didn't even want to think about what kind of spirit was able to block out the sun. All in all, a spirit like this was never a good thing for the SPR team. Cases like this always ended with someone hurt.

Mai's hands shot out to fist the back of Oliver's shirt, ready to push the self-sacrificing man away if necessary. She had seen him pale and lifeless in a hospital bed one too many times. But, he had also seen her bleed and nearly die a good amount of times, too, and though he was unbelievably stubborn when it came to expressing his deep rooted affection for his SPR team, Mai could see it all in his eyes. He would do anything to keep any of them safe from harm. Including using himself as a shield.

The thing was, so would Mai. She prayed it wouldn't come to that, stepped to the side and lifted her hands, prepared to chant the warding magic Takigawa and Ayako taught her. Blinded and shaking with residual fear, Mai would do anything.

Before Mai could utter a single syllable, that gut feeling, the one that was pure instinct and never wrong, twisted at Mai's insides. Her latent ESP that never stopped amazing her or her team was damn insistent sometimes. It tugged at the part of her brain that worried so violently Mai winced, but did not hesitate in throwing her arm around Oliver's waist and pulling him down to the ground. They hit the floor at the same moment the screens behind them exploded. Or rather, the glass of the screens broke and shards were scattered across the room.

Mai couldn't be sure what with the ringing in her ears, but she thought, off in the distance, she heard someone say, _Please_.

"Naru!" Mai called, still unable to see beyond the assault of light. "Are you hurt?"

"No, Mai. I'm fine." He was still to her left, and Mai thrusted her hands in that direction. They collided with a solid wall of muscle and latched on.

"How was that even possible?" Mai all but shrieked. She kept blinking rapidly to get the base to come into focus quicker. "I - Did the spirit stop our eyes from seeing? Or did it turn off all light, including the sun?" She was asking too many questions, but she was frazzled and not entirely sure if she had gauged the case as accurately as she had initially thought. This… this wasn't right.

Oliver finally came into focus and Mai was quick to begin fussing over him. Oliver spared Mai a quick once over, deemed her unharmed, and then silently waited for Mai to finish patting him over to assure herself that he was okay. It was practically routine at this point. He had that critical look in his eyes again when Mai stepped back, mindful of the glass shards everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, his expression morphed into his thinking one. His eyes lost their warmth and seemed to focus on nothing. His luscious lips set in a hard pink line, and his spine rightened up, tense and unmovable. Mai couldn't even imagine how quickly the gears in his head were turning.

"I'm sure the spirit only manipulated the electromagnetic waves emitting from the sun," he told Mai in that hard voice of his. "We know that spirits interfere with electricity by manipulating the waves of energy. It is a logical assumption that they can do the same with the sunlight."

"But that would take a lot of energy, wouldn't it?" Mai asked. She cautiously stepped away, feeling the warmth return to the air. Whatever had taken the room and shaken it was gone, having left the base a complete mess that she would most likely have to clean up. Mai didn't want to look at the monitors, too emotionally invested in their wellbeing to examine their poor state. Oliver returned to the desk, picked up his black book and began scribbling in it. "The spirit was making everything shake and the voices - that would take an insane amount of energy that very few entities possess."

"Yes."

"And that never bodes well for us."

"No."

Mai stood staring at Oliver for a moment, taking note of the tense set to his shoulders and slight tapping of his fingers. He was worried. Of course he was. They knew coming here was going to be dangerous. The spirit haunting this beach murdered as many as twenty-something young women! They had spent hours in the office discussing what precautions they were going to take, and Oliver had stressed numerous times that no one was obligated to work the case with him. As if he wasn't aware that most of SPR would follow him down the stairs to Hell.

"We're going to have to be very careful." Mai mused solemnly. "Like, more so than we had planned to be. Mostly me, because I am a ghost magnet."

That managed to get Oliver to look up at her. There was a flash of amusement on his face (the brightening of his eyes and the soft set of his mouth) before it was overtaken by a careful blankness. This was how Oliver handled his concern: forcing it as far away from the surface so that he could pretend it didn't exist, not for the sake of feeling nothing, but to prevent himself from becoming distracted.

"Hey now," Mai huffed with a pout. "I can't stop you from worrying, but you should know I'm a lot better at protecting myself now."

"I doubt you've ever faced a spirit like the one haunting this beach." Was Oliver's slow reply.

"You're right, of course." Mai replied easily. "But Gene has trained me to the point of exhaustion, and then beyond. I didn't even know my soul could get sore!"

"It was fatigue, Mai. Your soul has no ligaments or muscles to have been overworked."

"Well - that's not the point. The point is, I can take care of myself. At least, I can keep myself alive long enough for help to arrive." Mai's voice tapered off towards the end. It was a sore spot for Oliver, the one time a dozen cases ago when he couldn't get to Mai before a woman possessed by a vengeful bride stuck a knife in Mai's abdomen. It wasn't his fault, he was knocked unconscious by a chunk of building, but he blamed himself all the same. Mai had been slowly chipping away at his monument of guilt, but he was resisting. So she added, "My safety isn't just on your shoulders, okay. I'm not all that happy with it, but Monk and Ayako and even Lin would do anything to keep me safe. To keep any of our team safe. It's not just on you. It's, 'We protect each other,' not, 'Naru protects everyone else.'"

Oliver refused to look up from his book. That was okay. Mai knew he was bad at receiving comfort. Instead of continuing to bug him, Mai grabbed a broom from a storage closet and began sweeping up the glass. She made a mental note to call Ichida later and ask him if he had any spare bulbs lying around. In the meantime, Mai set up the lamps John had suggested they invest in once after they worked a case in a building that was haunted by a ghost that refused to let the lights work.

After a few minutes, Oliver left the desk to help Mai clean up the mess. The storage closet had trash bags in it, and together they cleaned up whatever remained of their monitors.

"I hope you had those insured." Mai said as they inspected the destroyed shelves. Only half of the monitors had been blown out, but considering SPR had almost thirty monitors, that was still quite a bit of technology left in ruin. "You could try and trick me into working off their replacement fee, but I'm grown now."

"Of course they are insured." Oliver began to remove the ones that were beyond saving. "I am more concerned about Lin's reaction to seeing his destroyed monitors."

Mai gasped, nearly dropping a hollowed monitor right on her toes. "You're right! They're like my friends but … they're basically his children. Oh no."

"Oh my." Said a woman standing at the doorway, wearing a beautiful pencil skirt and a horrified expression. Mai really did drop her monitor then.

* * *

Lin was devastated. He had not said a word since his first gruff, "What." upon seeing the condition of the monitors. He was understandably concerned about the condition of Mai and Oliver as well, but once he understood they were fine, he moved to his desk, sat down and had not moved since.

The rest of the team, when they returned from the beach or from the nearby sushi and noodle bar, had been unnerved to find a complete stranger scolding Oliver, who dutifully ignored her while Mai tried valiantly not laugh. The intruder was Ichida's daughter, Zayuri, and she was furious to see the study in this shape. Mai tried to explain it as a disturbance caused by the paranormal entity haunting the beach, but Zayuri waved her off.

Now, they all sat and enjoyed their lunch while Zayuri and Oliver and Mai discussed the matters of the case.

"I - Well, I've never believed in ghosts or anything like that, but I really want whatever is causing all this stuff gone." Zayuri told them, hands on her dainty hips. Mai was trying really hard to listen to Zayuri attentively, but she kept getting distracted by the pretty features of the older woman. "And gone for good. Many house owners have tried to have their houses cleansed, and not once did it work. My father tells me you're next level ghost hunters so I expect you to get this job done."

Zayuri was much like her father. She had the same dark eyes and dark lips. The same olive skin and shiny hair. The same sense of duty, only Zayuri wanted to give people homes and Ichida wanted to keep people safe. Mai liked her when she was not threatening to have Oliver arrested for burglary.

"It will be." Mai said before Oliver could respond. The blue eyed beauty was still smarting from the many expletives that had been thrown his way by the older woman. If given the opportunity, he would tear into her with little remorse. "We just need all the records of previous owners over the past, uh, fifty years or so, for as many beach houses as you can allow us."

Zayuri raised an immacualte eyebrow at Mai. "Yes," She replied slowly. "My father warned me before I drove down here. I'll email you what I've gathered first thing tomorrow morning."

Mai bowed in thanks and helped Zayuri gather her things. Before she left, Zayuri stopped again at the door. She looked hesitantly between the room's occupants, seemed to gather some kind of resolve and said, "I wouldn't consider this the absolute truth but, well. Many of the villagers swear up and down that the - the ghost haunting this beach is a girl that killed herself many years ago. She didn't drown, so she won't be in the records my father gave you. I just thought I should say something."

Looking several years older than Mai expected her to be, Zayuri placed a solemn hand over her heart. "One of my dearest friends drowned almost three years ago. I want this to end. I really do."

Mai gave Zayuri a sincere smile. "We want to end this, too. And we'll do our best. Trust us."

Zayuri looked at Mai. This time, she really _looked_ at her. Mai knew she wasn't much of a sight, refused to think what a beauty like Zayuri thought of her, but knew what Zayuri was looking for and knew that she would find it. Mai had determination coursing through her blood, thick and sure and true. Once Zayuri found it, she quickly bid her farewell and disappeared down the hall.

"I like her very much." Ayako laughed as soon as they heard the front door close. "Do you think she'll tell me who did her nails? They were magnificent."

"And what's wrong with yours?" Takigawa winked, taking Ayako's hands in his own and holding them up to his face. "They look just fine to me."

Across from them, seated at the very edge of a very large armchair, Masako rolled her eyes. "Please, refrain from such displays. I am trying to finish my meal."

"Oh hush, Masako." Mai softly reprimanded, finally digging into her own plate. "Their affection is much better than Ayako trying to behead Monk with her bag."

"I have to agree with Mai," John chimed in from his seat on the floor. Mai beamed at him.

"Masako, Ayako." Interrupted Oliver. He still had his black book in his hands, too busy with business to think about food. Lin was still busy trying to sort out the monitors to get him to eat. "How was the beach?"

Mai didn't trust the way Masako easily replied that she felt nothing. Even when she added, "But, that's probably because the spirit was attacking you at the same time we were on the beach." Mai still felt … off.

"That's not right." She said before she could stop herself. It was the way she said it that had every eye in the room turn to her. "We're missing something, something big. Whatever attacked Naru and I in here, it's not the same thing that keeps killing those girls."

Mai was used to being sure of things she could not explain, but this time was seriously frustrating.

"Are you saying there is more than one spirit, Mai?" Oliver asked.

"No. At least, I'm not sure. I just - isn't it weird, that a spirit yells at us to 'Go away,' even though that same spirits supposedly wants nothing more than to drag young women into the ocean?"

Oliver held his joined hands to his lips in what Mai knew to be an attempt to suppress a smirk. It was what he started doing after Mai proved to him with her college entrance exam scores that she had plenty of brains cells to call her own. He enjoyed watching her use them to try and understand their cases, and liked it even better when Mai succeeded. Mai liked to think she was getting pretty good at doing that.

"I thought the same thing." Oliver said, redirecting everyone's (except Takigawa, who was carefully stealing raw fish from Ayako's plate) attention to himself. "This was the first time any of the voices heard along the beachfront said anything comprehendable. We don't have sufficient information to make any kind of inferences or hypothesis, but I would like to continue forward with our investigation as if there are multiple spirits on these grounds."

"Don't we do that anyways," Ayako muttered under her breath, though not unkindly. Takigawa flicked her softly on the nose and gave her a pointed look.

"As for now, Lin will rewire the monitors so they can split-screen and still work with our number of cameras. Takigawa, Mia. You two will go around and set up the cameras. Stick together. Ayako and Masako and John can get the charms up and then assist you with the cameras."

Mai stood and made as if she was going to go check on Lin's progress, then quickly dashed over to Oliver and pulled his book right out of his hands. His head snapped to face her, but Mai only smiled sweetly.

"We'll get to all of that, Naru." She assured him, dancing her way back to her seat. "But first, we are _all_ going to eat."

Oliver glared at her, but Mai stared back, unyielding. Oliver wilted, just like everyone but Mai knew he would. With a frown, he turned to his silicon plate and began to eat.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: hello everyone, sorry this has taken a bit of time. i, like an idiot, forgot the password to my account and let that dissuade me from writing anything, but i got bored one night and got this done at four in the morning :-).**

 **Also, thank you a million for all the follows and favorites, it means a lot and gets me going guys, so really, thank u.**

 **Also also, this chapter has some trigger warnings! We'll be venturing into the topic of suicide, so pls take the precautions u need. I do not own Ghost Hunt or really anything except like a book or two. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Lin's voice crackled through the radio strapped to Mai's hip, instructing her to move the camera a few inches to the right. With Takigawa's help, Mai got the camera stand into position for what felt like the hundredth time in the past ten minutes. They had moved it from one corner to another until Lin decided it was better to have the camera farther away from the windows so they could see both the room and the beach beyond the home.

"Like this, Lin?" Mai asked into the end of the radio. She ran a hand through the sweat on her brow and glanced over at the setting sun. It was beautiful and Mai wanted nothing more than to just stare at it until the stars were shining brightly overhead. But, she had a job to do. As it was, this was the last camera. John and the others had finished setting up their share already, which maybe wasn't all that fair considering they started almost two hours after Mai and Takigawa had. But then again, they did walk a few miles up and down the beachfront, so maybe it _was_ even.

"That's good Mai." Lin replied, much to Mai's relief. "You two should head back to base now. Noll wants to review what Madoka was able to find."

She shared a look with Takigawa and knew he was thinking the same thing. It had taken them hours to get their cameras set up over their part of the house, as well as take some down to the beach. For the brief half hour that Mai was down there, she found herself greatly unnerved to note that she too felt no presence on the beach, only an overwhelming sense of icy uneasiness. Masako, on her second round, still only felt the anguish of the souls lost to the sea and nothing else, and needed to take another moment to recover once she made it back to base.

Mai replied in affirmation, restrapped the radio to her hip, and then followed Takigawa out into the hall. They were on the third floor, which was just as impeccable as the rest of the house, though significantly more dusty. Most of the cameras were on the first floor or on the stairs, but the third floor offered scenic but strategic views of the beach as well as the outside of the home. Oliver wanted as many views of as much as the team could manage.

"I don't know if I'd ever want to live in a house this big." Takigawa thought aloud as they approached the staircase upon exiting a long, winding hall. "Imagine having to keep this place clean. Insane."

"I can barely keep my apartment clean." Mai agreed.

"I think I'd like a small little cottage somewhere quiet." Takigawa confessed, a faraway look in his eyes. Mai's eyebrows quirked, intrigued.

"Really?" Mai asked, a small smile on her face. "I thought you really liked the city life."

"I do, I do." Takigawa laughed. "But I'm getting older. It's time for me to settle down now, I think. Besides, it's not like I'll stay away from the city forever. I can't just drop the music, but we want -" And just like that, the tips of Takigawa's ears turned a bright red.

"Monk!" Mai shout-whispered. "Are you and Ayako finally getting a place together?"

"Mai-" Takigawa whispered back. He stopped, and then sighed through a small smile. "We were going to wait until we had a deposit down to tell anyone."

"I knew it!" Mai crowed, punching her fists into the air above her head. "Ayako had realtor magazines out last time I was over, which is very much not her style. Oh! But this is so exciting!"

Mai was smiling so hard it almost hurt. Ayako and Takigawa had been dating for almost three years now, and this meant that they would probably continue dating for much longer since they were willing to share their living space with each other. "This is a big step, Monk. I'm happy for you. The both of you, though I suppose I can't tell that to Ayako just yet."

Takigawa smiled at his favorite brunette, eyes crinkling up at the corner. "Thank you, Mai. That means a lot, coming from you."

"Have you guys found a place yet?"

"Not yet." Takigawa sighed, body much more relaxed now, as if withholding information from the girl he considered his little sister had exhausted him. All things considered, it probably did. Mai and Takigawa operated under an agreement that they would not keep secrets from each other. "But we do have our eyes on some. We're trying to stick close, but we also want a good yard so Ayako can have her shrine."

"You should definitely let me help you find a place. Use me as a human compass because I'll never steer you wrong! " Mai laughed happily, bouncing a little on the tips of her toes. Takigawa laughed with her, the light in his eyes sparkling. Mai was so absorbed in her - in their happiness she almost missed the last step. Takigawa grabbed her arm before Mai could fall, like he always did, and steadied her. "Oh crap. Sorry, Monk, I wasn't looking."

"Please," Takigawa huffed, eyes so unbearably fond. "Our Mai wouldn't be our Mai if she didn't trip over air every now and then."

Mai bit back her retort as she stepped into the base. Everyone had returned from their tasks some time ago, and now that Mai and Takigawa returned, base felt full. Mai greeted everyone easily, making to plop down on the couch besides Masako, who looked much better after her walk through the beach, but before her bottom could come in contact with the soft material of the cushions, Oliver called out a toneless, "Mai, tea."

Huffing a little under her breath, Mai prepared their tea with practiced hands. The set the team got her for Christmas a few years ago still looked good as new and still flooded Mai with warmth. She brought it with her to every case, beyond tired of getting lost trying to find a kitchen. And when things were ever a little depressing or so terrifying Mai thought her heart would just stop, the smoothe baby pink china never failed to soothe her nerves.

"Have you set up all the wards?" Mai asked Ayako as she set the water to boil. Knowing how long it would take for the kettle to whistle (down to the second), Mai let herself relax into a chair at the monitor table. Opposite her, Ayako and John were blessing leather bands that would act as extra protection. Seeing that, something in Mai relaxed just a smidge.

"Of course." Ayako said, almost affronted. "I had those up before going down to the beach. Oh, that reminds me. Naru, I added the extra ones to Mai's bed like you asked."

Mai shot up, surprised. "What? I'm getting extra charms? That's not fair!"

Oliver, who had been typing on his work laptop (not to be confused with his personal laptop, which was the same make and model but never to be touched by Mai, something she learned the hard way), let out a long-suffering sigh. His carefully maintained hair was pushed away from where it fell over his eyes that looked almost grey in the light of the vanishing sun.

"Yes, Mai." He said, not even deigning to turn and face her. "As you so eloquently stated before: you're a ghost magnet."

"But still," Mai argued stubbornly. "Everyone should get extra charms if I'm getting extra charms. Or, maybe none of us get extra charms, just the normal number of charms."

"If anyone else had your record of injuries and other such issues during cases, they too would receive extra charms."

"Well then, I hope you've asked Ayako to prepare some for you. You're just as bad as I am!" Mai shouted. She was becoming flustered half because she knew he was right and half because Mai hated feeling that her family, the people she cared most about in the whole world, were putting her safety above their own.

Ayako, always the mother hen, intervened before the discussion could dissolve into a full-blown screaming match. Mai spared a thought for the days where Ayako was the instigator of most of SPR's screaming matches. Mai really wasn't the only one to have matured over the years, but Ayako was the same in her core, just like Mai was. She would still turn her very expensive handbag into a weapon if she thought Takigawa needed some sense knocked into him.

The red haired woman used her soft we-will-stop-screaming-now voice to say, "Mai, sweetie, I always make you and Naru extra charms. The rest of us don't need them because we don't shine as brightly as you two do on a spiritual level."

Unwilling to concede, but knowing that Ayako was being logical, Mai turned to the kettle and began preparing the tea. With a sigh, Ayako turned to Takigawa and made an exasperated gesture that made him laugh. Masako tried (and failed) to stifle the fondness she felt at Mai's stubbornness. John, ever the most gentlemanly of all gentlemen, stood to help Mai serve the tea.

When Mai handed Oliver his cup, she did so slowly enough to make him look up at her in question. He could see that Mai had finished her inexplicable cycle of emotions and was calm again. This was her way of apologizing without words. Oliver taking the warm cup of delicious tea and incling his head very slightly in thanks was his own way of telling Mai that she was forgiven.

"Okay, boss." Takigawa began after everyone was seated with their tea and ready to discuss. "What do we have?"

"Lin." Oliver said curtly.

The Chinese man placed a freshly printed packet of information into Oliver's waiting hands as if he had just been sat there, waiting for the order to come. Mai would never be able to understand how Lin could operate under such discipline. It was kind of scary sometimes.

"There is little to no new information in Mr. Ichida's files. Lin called and questioned many of the witnesses, but they have yet to mention anything of importance." Oliver flipped through his packet as he spoke, sounding unbothered to all the world but them. "However, the young girl that Miss Ichida mentioned earlier does seem to shed some light onto this investigation."

"It would make sense," Masako said after Oliver purposefully fell into silence. She was faced towards the windows, staring out at the orange remnants of sunlight disappearing under the dark blue ocean. The soft glow painted her doll-like face with warmth, which contrasted greatly with the deep sorrow in her deep blue eyes. "Many spirits that commit suicide find themselves with immense regret after death. That regret often morphs into anger at whatever they feel contributed to their final decision, and that anger corrupts them until they begin to disrupt the world around them."

"The evidence suggests that that is the case here." Oliver said. "The young woman Miss Ichida mentioned was Miura Kayo. According to the police report Lin dug up, she slit her wrists and threw herself into the sea a few days after her 22nd birthday. She had suffered from severe depression for the entirety of her adult life, so there was no deeper investigation into her death or even an autopsy. Because of that, it is unknown whether Miura drowned or bled to death, though the reports support that she drowned. This was almost ten years before the first drowning, and for the first thirteen years after the drownings began, they all occurred around or on her birthday."

"Do you think it's significant that her death wasn't thoroughly investigated?" John asked with a concerned furrow in his brows. He placed his empty tea cup onto the coffee table before him with a soft clink.

"Depression isn't typically a reason for people to kill themselves." Masako pointed out, her delicate hands gripping at the teacup in her hands almost desperately. Mai understood her passion; she'd had enough dreams of people taking their own lives to know that it took a lot more than the worst kinds of sadness to make someone stop looking for happiness. People were a lot stronger than that, even if they thought otherwise.

"I find it odd, but that information came directly from her parents, the only family she had." Oliver said. He looked around at his team members before continuing. "As the entity haunting this area forces young women to drown themselves, we can conclude that the ghost is indeed Miura Koya."

Mai thought about that for a moment as Lin and Takigawa began to discuss what kind of ghost Miura Koya was. The entire time Oliver had been discussing her death, Mai had felt something niggling at the back of her mind. Not in the way that meant they were wrong, no, because that instinctual part of Mai responded with waves and waves of emotion. This was something else. Something that made her want to look closer at all the details so she could paint a truer picture.

"She has probably devolved into something very sinister. It's been years, and she's killed so many."

Sitting before the monitors, with Oliver to her left and all the others right in front of her, Mai tried to focus on that gut feeling that never did her wrong. Over the years of extensive training, Mai had become quite skilled in using her latent sensitivity to assist with cases in this exact way. She had helped steer countless investigations in the right direction several times now by digging deep inside of herself and tugging at the knot of truth delivered to Mai from the astral plane.

"- that Miura would be a simple wandering spirit after taking so many lives? Is that-"

It had taken Mai a few years to truly understand it, but Oliver and his brother had time and time again explained to Mai that because she could exist in the living world and in the plane above it, Mai was able to see, feel and experience imprints of lives long gone. That was how she had dreams and why spirits were always so attracted to her. While Mai was in the living world, her soul always had a hand on the astral plane, as well as vice versa, and the bright light of her life and her spiritual abilities called out to lost souls. It didn't help that for Mai to be able to be alive and exist amongst the dead she had to have what was known by psychic researchers as a _pure soul_. In terms of energy, a pure soul was like an atomic bomb. The extent of what a living person with a pure soul could do was unknown and untested, so Mai and her family were operating on faith and educated guesses. But there was one thing they all knew for certain: for any dark spirits seeking to hurt and consume, a pure soul was the greatest possible weapon they could encounter. If a spirit like that consumed Mai's soul, they would become virtually unstoppable.

"- stronger than a simple spirit if she's hiding herself and her victims from me. Much-"

Mai's abilities had only been awaken after her first case with Oliver back at that forsaken schoolhouse, which was why she was able to live comfortably (or as comfortably as a lonely orphan girl could manage) up until then. After that first case, Mai had SPR to help keep her safe. To teach her things she could do to protect herself. Mai's "dream-Naru," who was later revealed to be Eugene Davis, Oliver's dead twin brother, slowly helped to show her how to shape her astral plane into what she needed from it, be it a glimpse of a tragic past or a way to find a lost friend. During the several months where Oliver had returned to England with Gene's body and Mai's steady income disappeared, there was no one left to protect Mai but Mai herself. Those months were full of horrors that Mai refused to think about, but those horrors helped to teach Mai what she could make the astral plane do, as well as what the astral plane could do to her. When Gene returned to her at the same time that Oliver and the rest of her team did (they were all alarmed to find that Mai's apartment complex had been torn down, forcing Mai to move away which made it hard for them to keep in touch with her), and now there wasn't much Mai didn't already know about her skills. Still, in true Davis fashion, Gene made Mai practice and practice and practice until she was a fierce spiritualist in her very own right. Knowing now how to protect herself on the astral plane, Mai closed her eyes and focused. She looked inside herself to find the knot of instinct that would help her understand what was really happening on this beach and found … found nothing.

"- demon. She could be a demon."

"But we haven't observed any signs, Noll."

Mai's eyes shot open, alarmed. That uneasiness, the soft whisperings from the depths of her enlightened soul, had vanished. The moment Mai tried to find it, the knot had disappeared as if it were smoke. That - well, that had never happened before. Mai didn't like it.

"Ol-" She tried to say, a cold sweat breaking out on her skin. She couldn't make her voice loud enough to be heard over the debate happening around her. Something was wrong. Something was tugging at her gut again, but not towards any truth, no. This felt like something had wrapped chains around her consciousness and was forcibly pulling her out of her body. Like Mai was being unraveled.

"-is clue enough that she's strong, and we should therefore consider-"

Mai was being pulled out to sea. By what? She couldn't tell. She couldn't feel anything but that tugging motion at what she knew very well to be her soul, and fear. Intense fear. But why was she afraid? It was like her thoughts were spilling out of her, too quickly for Mai to actually think. She couldn't feel anything. She was supposed to be feeling something.

"-feel something. It's faint, like a shadow-"

Mai's eyes blinked sluggishly. She heard someone say something in a whisper, or maybe it was the wind, but it afforded her a little bit of clarity. The other SPR members were listening to Masako intently, and Masako was looking at nothing with such focus. She wouldn't find anything. Mai wanted to tell her to stop looking because it was a trick, but her voice had run away somewhere. She was cold. Something was wrong, but it didn't feel wrong which only made it more wrong. Mai felt numb.

No one was looking at Mai. No one except Oliver, who had caught movement from the corner of his eye. Mai's hands were grabbing at air, trembling but still trying to ground herself with something. Before Oliver could question why, Mai's eyes rolled into the back of her head and her body slipped off the chair, falling to the floor with a sickening thud.

The room fell into a horrified silence.

* * *

 _Mai was on the beach._

 _She was on the beach and the water was the color of blood._

 _"Gene?" Mai called out, but her voice was whisked away by the ocean breeze before Mai could hear it herself. It was useless, Mai knew that somehow. This wasn't a dream. It didn't feel like one, and it didn't feel like she was visiting the astral plane either. It felt like she had fallen into a tub of static._

 _Gene wasn't there. Mai couldn't feel him no matter how far she reached out. But she wasn't alone._

 _"Who's there?" Mai demanded, but this time with her thoughts. She looked out at the startlingly blue sky and the blood-red waters and waited for the answer she knew she was here to receive._

 _The presence didn't answer with words. Mai could feel it slither towards her slowly, like a predator slinking towards its prey, but she couldn't move to try to defend herself. She wasn't in charge right now, and the thought was paralyzing._

 _"So smooth." A voice slammed into Mai the exact moment the soft breeze around her picked up into whip like winds. "So delicate."_

 _The disembodied voice grated on Mai's nerves like nails dragged down a chalkboard. It burrowed its way into her heart and turned it cold and heavy. Whatever it belonged to was something Mai did not want to encounter ever. At least not face to face. She could pretend to be brave right now, when the monster speaking to her was just a voice and not something Mai could remember in her real dreams._

 _And then, suddenly, the scene around Mai changed. It took her a moment to realize the ocean had returned to its normal deep blue and the sky had turned into a blanket of blackness sprinkled with twinkling stars. Mai stood now in the surf with the waves crashing over her ankles like a gentle kiss._

 _"Naru!" A voice behind her cried out, stricken. Mai jumped, but could not turn. That was her voice, wasn't it? Wasn't that how she sounded? But-_

 _"Please stop! Stop hurting him, please!" Mai heard herself say from behind her. The absolute terror in her own voice was unpleasant to hear, to say the least. Forcing herself to calm down, Mai preened her ears to hear more of whatever the heck was happening behind her. She could hear the soft thuds of footsteps in the sand, the harsh breathing of lungs being pushed to their limit, the loud nothingness of something sinister._

 _And then there was the horrible sound of someone gasping out wetly and falling into the sand. And then Mai's voice shouted, terrified beyond belief and like a stab to Mai's chest, "Oliver!'_

 _The scene changed again, but this time like Mai's invisible shackles disappeared and the fear holding her in place vanished. Mai collapsed into the memory, reeling and confused and scared. She still couldn't feel Gene beside her, and was trying desperately to not think about what could have made her call for Oliver with such - such grief in her voice. It took her a moment to realize she wasn't herself._

 _She was a girl, a small one that was probably as old as Mai was currently. She was sat on the pier, the one that Mai had seen on her quick trip down to the beach, and she was watching the light bounce off the swaying ocean. She was feeling peace. A profound kind of peace that did wonders in calming Mai's panic and fear and settling her down enough to just take in the view from some years ago._

 _The girl was beautiful in a way that made her look like she belonged in a painting more than she did on the Earth amongst the mundane. Though Mai was looking out at the ocean with the girl's eyes, she was also everywhere else. She had learned this trick years before, this meaning becoming the astral plane, and it allowed her to marvel at the girl's glowing auburn hair falling down in soft spirals over her shoulders. At her soft smile and doe eyes, and the gentle rhythm she was humming at nothing in particular. She was so_ _happy that Mai could not help but be happy with her._

 _When the girl started singing along to some song Mai could not recognize but could hear crooning from the rustic radio set beside the girl on the dock, the sky switched from baby blue to cotton pink in a second. It was like magic, this little memory Mai had found herself in, and it was hard to leave behind._

 _But Mai could still hear the horror in her own voice and knew she had a lot of work to do._


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: sorry it's been a minute, life has been rough recently and i started my second year of uni so i haven't really had a lot of time to write.. so this chapter is pretty short. idk, i'm feeling a little discouraged about a lot of things when it comes to writing so it's hard to sit down and get myself to write. but i am really into this story and the way i'm writing the naru/mai relationship so im going to try and continue this. i hope you guys like it, pls leave me a review or something, i think it would encourage me a little. enjoy!**

* * *

Mai woke to a cold hand pressed against her forehead, soft and entirely soothing. It was the first sensation to return to her as she regained consciousness, and she took solace in it. After trips to the astral plane, it was always touch that returned to her first, then sounds, then sight, and then everything else. Right then, Mai was grateful for this as gentle fingers brushed her fringe to the side; she felt like she was encased in safety.

While the familiar hand continued to soothe over her clammy skin, the voices of Mai's team slowly started to come into coherence. It was worrisome, just how hard Mai had to focus for the words to start making sense. She felt like she was underwater, kicking towards the surface for ages before her head finally breached and all the sounds around her finally rounded out.

"I really don't like this." Came Takigawa's voice, firm but underlined with anxiety. He was close, and above wherever Mai was reclining on, and Mai could so easily picture him with his hands on his hips and a frown dragging at his lips, his eyes blazing with a fierce kind of concern. "We can't pretend that was normal."

"I agree. Mai doesn't just pass out and slip into projecting." That was Ayako, only the anxiety in her voice was much clearer. Mai could feel the miko's well manicured nails tapping rapidly against the inside of her wrist, worried. "She projects when she's asleep. Something must have pushed her into the astral plane against her will. And if whatever spirit haunts this place can do _that,_ then I think we need to reconsider the case."

Mai did not want to leave.

She couldn't. At least, not until she knew what her dream meant, until she knew that the evil presence that trapped her on that bloody beach was completely eradicated, until she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Oliver would be safe. Because that non-memory forced at her during her projection was not a lie. It was not something fabricated to scare Mai into running away, no, Mai new what those felt like. This was something much, much worse. Something she had prayed she would never have to face again.

She was afraid.

Like flipping a switch, Mai snapped back into her body and her senses returned on high alert. She could see the light of the room shining on the other side of her eyelids, could hear the waves crashing from the other side of the window, could smell the familiar aroma that clung to Oliver wherever he went, could feel the soft material of someone's blanket draped over her body. She could feel the way Oliver brushed a few more strands of hair away from her face and she gasped.

Mai's eyes shot open and her hand reached out to grip Oliver's wrist before Oliver could even comprehend that his smallest assistant was awake again. When he saw the pure terror in her eyes, any sense of relief dissipated as the worry he tried so hard to push away wrapped back around his heart like a vice.

"Something bad is going to happen." Mai whispered, half crazed and in a voice so weak only Oliver could hear her. "Can't - We can't stop it."

"Mai?" Ayako sprung to her feet and stepped over to the two younger ghost hunters. At the priestess' voice, Mai blinked and relaxed her grip on Oliver. Whatever fear had consumed her seemed to slowly seep out of her, and Oliver watched her relax into Ayako's care with a heavy sense of foreboding.

"Mai, you really can't help yourself, can you?" Masako huffed in faux annoyance. The slight wrinkle of the sleeves of her cardigan revealed the truth of her worry, because Masako had a habit of picking at her clothes when she was nervous. But. Where did she get the cardigan? Last Mai saw her (before she quite literally collapsed into the astral plane), Masako had donned a forest green spaghetti strap. When had she changed?

"You were out for sixteen hours." Oliver told her after seeing the confusion flood her expression. He watched her lips part with shock and swallowed whatever fluttering beasts attempted to escape from his abdomen. "I hope you saw something useful."

"Six- Sixteen hours?" Mai rasped in horror. The projection couldn't have lasted more than sixteen minutes. How was she unconscious for more than she spent awake on a daily basis? Something heavier than led settled in the pit of her stomach. This couldn't be, not again.

"What did you see, Mai?" Takigawa asked, his voice reworked into something more soothing. Behind him stood John, his kind face shadowed with worry. Mai wanted to tell Takigawa, wanted to run right into his arms and beg him to make it stop, but she knew she couldn't, not yet. They were on a case and she had information to share. She would go to him later.

"It's bad." She said to the room at large before her eyes settled on Oliver, who had yet to look away from her. "The entity on this beach reeks of evil. I've never felt anything like that. It took control from me. On the astral plane, _my_ astral plane." Her voice trembled at the admission, and the air in the room grew tense. Mai gripped at the blanket that someone had placed over her body sometime during her slumber. Her skin prickled, remembering the way the imagined wind had become a weapon against her.

"Could you tell what _it_ was?" Masako interjected steadily. Mai seized the question desperately and used it to pull herself out of her memories.

"No. It was hiding from me, I think."

"Hiding?" Lin cut in. The fact that he'd spoken up at all was a cause for concern if anyone had ever seen one.

"Well, no, I don't think that was the right word." Mai replied after a moment of thought. "I knew it was there, I felt it, but. But, it didn't let me see it, somehow. I was stuck on the beach, staring at the ocean only it was blood. It said something, but I can't remember what it said. And then-"

Mai paused. She couldn't share that piece of information for the good of everyone around her as well as herself.

"Mai?" Oliver prodded in a way that was gentle of him.

"It was going to hurt me." She said softly, hoping her half truth would pass Oliver's judgement. "I know it could have. Something stopped it."

"Something?" He demanded, his voice still whisper-like and soft.

"Another spirit, maybe?" Masako offered. "It supports our theories from last night."

"I think so. I couldn't get a read on this one either, but it wa strong enough to push the other spirit out of my astral plane. It showed me a memory of a girl on the pier. It was Koya. She was … at peace."

"Was there any other information in the memory?" Oliver pressed

"No." Mai huffed, slightly embarrassed. "I was reeling from the first projection. When I felt calm enough, I forced myself out because I had to warn you."

"Was the dream first person or third?"

Mai flushed. "I'm not sure. It lasted for a minute, dreamtime. It was just to calm me down."

"To calm you down?" Ayako frowned. She held a water bottle up to Mai's lips and all but pried the brunette's jaw open until at least half the bottle was empty. "That's strangely considerate of a spirit."

"I can't feel any of these presences." Masako admitted guiltily.

"We're by the ocean," John offered gently. "It's okay if you're being overwhelmed by lost souls."

Mai shot a look at Takigawa as the base around her slowly relaxed into its regularly scheduled activity. As if sensing her gaze, Takigawa looked up from where he'd been reading Oliver's notes over his shoulder. Mai could see the moment he realized, saw it set in the rigid line of his shoulders and unhappy tilt of his lips.

Looking away, Mai gripped at her calmness like she was in choppy waters and it was her only way to shore. She cleared her throat . "So. Did I miss anything?"

* * *

Mai did not miss anything more than a few squabbles between Ayako and Takigawa and the consequent lecture from Oliver. And a few meals, but she was catching up on that.

Tucked into the same couch she had woken in a few hours earlier, Mai enjoyed a pre-packed bento meal courtesy of Lin (who was easily the best cook out of all of them). She ate slowly, forcing her hand not to tremble every time she took a bite. Besides her, hunched over his journal and writing intermittently was Oliver. He'd just returned from who-knows-where a few minutes ago with Lin after having left suddenly about two hours ago.

Trying to keep her curiosity at bay and keep from annoying her boss while he was obviously busy, Mai shoved more food down her throat. Takigawa, Ayako, John and Masako were out talking to and questioning the neighbors, having left as soon as Oliver and Lin had returned because Mai was not to be left alone. So Mai was alone with the two quietest members of her family, desperately trying to keep herself from thinking about a horrible, hidden truth, and she was about to explode.

She lasted five more minutes before cracking and nudging Oliver with her foot.

"Naru." She whispered, moving her now empty bento box to the coffee table. "What are you doing?"

Oliver tried to ignore Mai but Mai's feet were persistent. Snapping his journal shut and clipping his pen to the spine, Oliver turned to the brunette and raised a single, judgemental eyebrow.

Mai huffed, played off the coloring of her cheeks as embarrassment (and not a reaction to the intensity of Oliver's gaze), and pulled her knees up to her chest. She smiled as innocently as she could and said, "I'm bored."

Oliver tilted his head as if considering Mai's statement. Mai watched his hair fall over his temple and let the warmth that bloomed in her heart push the coldness away.

"I was looking at Koya's hospital records."

Mai hummed, resting her chin on her blanketed knees. Feeling a slight breeze from the open window behind her, Mai pulled up the hoodie of her sweater and pulled Masako's blanket tighter around her shoulders.

"What did you learn?" She asked after comfortably repositioning her blanket so all of her body was covered.

"She had a history of depression, starting from when she was just eleven years old. She was medicated for most of her life and saw a therapist regularly." Oliver rested his chin in his hand, back bowed and eyes shadowed. He was exhausted but Mai knew he wouldn't stop until the case was solved and the beach was safe once again.

"Do you think her spirit is the one huanting the beach?" Mai inquiered quietly.

Oliver closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "I don't know. She's the only traumatic death that's been recorded over the past century, and all the subsequent deaths have mimicked her own."

"It sounds like you believe it's her."

"But you don't." Oliver countered easily, his eyes out-blueing the sea.

Mai froze, and then heated up. She knew, objectively, that Oliver seriously considered her dreams and her intuition, but to see him trust her over cold, hard facts was, well. It was good. It was a good feeling that spread warmth from the tips of Mai's ears to the ends of her toes.

"No," she said after a moment of basking in her simmering happiness, "I don't. Not entirely."

The pair of them sat there on opposite ends of one couch, eyes locked and everything else completely forgotten. Oliver looked beautiful with the stars intermingling with his hair the same color as night, and Mai would break the universe into little pieces to keep him safe.

Across the room, the door to the base swung open violently and a pale faced Takigawa tumbled into the room, a limp and dripping wet Masako in his arms. Behind him, Ayako helped a similarly drenched John into an empty chair. Mai leapt to her feet the same time that Oliver did, and she ran over to help Takigawa get Masako onto the couch.

"What happened?" Lin crossed the room with quick, easy strides and hovered over John as Ayako pounded on his back.

"She walked right in." John whispered in a hoarse voice. "I didn't notice until she was already waist deep, and she fought against me when I tried to get her out."

"No, John, don't blame yourself." Mai ran over to John so that Ayako can move onto Masako, who was scarily limp and pale. "This wasn't your fault."

"She stopped breathing, Mai." John looked up with haunted eyes. "She wasn't breathing when I got her out."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: haha hi, its been a minute but im back and i have this new chapter. idk how i feel about it, but i also know that i did my best. uni has been keeping me very stressed and very busy so i wrote when i could. i hope its a fun ride for u guys, and i hope u enjoy it. pls pls pls leave me some comments. they make me happy and i need me some of that. anyways, here u go**

* * *

Entranced, Mai's eyes chased the morning sunlight as it danced with the cresting waves below in a flurry of golden glimmers, white sea foam, and a million shades of blue. It looked, sometimes, like the ocean was alive and winking up at her and then, other times, like it was crying. Instead of the giddiness that had filled her only two days before, Mai's skin crawled at the sight of the surf.

The whistle of the teapot pulled Mai's attention away from the unending blue and back, and into the base where half of her team were gathered. Wordlessly, Mai rose from her seat in front of the monitors and ambled over to the kitchenette to prepare their morning tea. She took special care in preparing a cup of honey-infused chamomile tea for Masako. The only sounds in the base as Mai poured the boiling water were the soft clinks of china and Masako's hoarse breathing from where she lay on the sette, wrapped in a mound of blankets. Not even Oliver was making any noise; he sat, silent and entirely still, looking over the ocean as Mai had done minutes before.

He was tense, Mai could see that in the purposeful stillness of his hands and the slow movements of his eyes as he worried over his thoughts. There were dark circles under them, a mirror to Mai's own bags, but Mai knew that she'd at least managed a few hours of sleep. She knew that Oliver hadn't slept a single wink; he'd stayed in the base after Mai had retired around two that morning, and was still there when Mai returned at six. He was wearing different clothes (a black cotton button-up and freshly pressed black slacks), but the set of his shoulders said enough to Mai.

He hadn't even scolded her for not getting enough sleep once she'd joined him, the way he had a hundred times before. Instead, they sat in silence, shoulders nearly touching and faces washed in the sickly light of the screens before them. He had barely moved since then despite the rest of the team piling into the room with their loud greetings and ensuing conversations, and only spared a nod when Lin, Takigawa and John left to interview some of the drowning survivors.

Mai was worried, but she was in no shape herself to offer comfort - she was too busy focusing all of her will into keeping the tremors out of her limbs. Ayako's evaluating gaze had swept over Mai more times in the past three hours than in the past three weeks. She needed to try harder; she could not afford to distract her teammates with concern for her wellbeing in the middle of this case. She would not do it, not if she could help it.

Once she'd poured enough tea and gathered enough biscuits, Mai pulled the tray into her arms and slowly made her way to Ayako and Masako, reigning in her thoughts in time to hear,

"Are you sure we can't convince you to go to the doctor?" Ayako hounded Masako for the tenth time, though still in an unbelievably gentle voice. "I know I'm a great doctor, but your heart actually stopped-"

"I know." Masako quickly cut the miko off with what could only be described as a growl. The shaking of the medium's hands was the only sign of the young woman's unease. "But I feel fine now. Just sore."

"Don't worry, Ayako." Mai knelt at the coffee table with careful motions, placing the full tray on the table with a slow kind of ease, mindful of her skirt and the many ways she has managed to accidentally flash her team. "This is my mom's Magic Mai Fix Up, which I drink every time I get hurt or sick. I'm sure its capabilities will translate to Masako, so," Mai looked Masako in the eye and continued in a stern, heavy voice, "drink up and if you so much as try to stand, I will tie you up and force you into an ambulance myself." She placed the steaming cup into Masako's pale, fragile hand and, again, resisted the urge to burst into tears. She'd already done enough crying the night before, and Takigawa did not deserve to put up with another flood of Mai's tears.

"A big part of me wants to call you a hypocrite." Masako huffed, rolling her eyes but taking the cup from Mai with the barest incline of her head in thanks. "But I won't."

"You just did." Ayako pointed out in a deadpan.

Before Masako could be pulled into an argument with the miko, John and Takigawa finally returned with bags of breakfast and supplies. They stomped into the room with great grins on their faces, lighting up the room with enough force for Mai to feel some of the tension melt off her spine. Behind them, Lin stood with a pile of papers tucked under his arm and a poorly suppressed grin hiding at the corner of his mouth. As soon as the two men in front of him stepped aside, Lin marched over to Oliver, the smile slipping off his face, and the two of them delved into a serious looking conversation.

"How did the questioning go?" Ayako asked as Takigawa placed a kiss on her temple. "Did Lin make someone cry again?"

"Of course not." John systematically searched through the brown paper bags before reaching into one and pulling out a box of ice packs. "Lin was appropriately delicate with all the girls. Masako, these are for your ribs."

Mai watched with glee in her heart as Masako forced herself not to flush and lifted her arms so John could place the ice packs over her bruised ribs. Catching Mai's teasing grin, Masako shot her friend a glare over John's shoulder and then quickly smoothed her features into a neutral expression when John looked up to ask if she was in any pain. It was a silly question; John was only capable of being heart-achingly gentle.

"Mai." Oliver's call grabbed Mai's attention easily. She turned on her feet and found herself face to face with her boss. His brows were slanted just enough to be barely noticeable, which Mai knew meant he was annoyed. "You never gave me my tea."

"Oh!" Mai gasped. "Sorry, Naru. I got sidetracked."

Quickly, Mai spun back around and hurried over to the kitchenette, unaware of the attentive eyes watching her unknowingly stilted movements. Oliver watched as she checked to make sure the tea was still sufficiently warm before pouring a cup and handing it over.

She waited until the slant in Oliver's brow disappeared before asking, "Did you learn anything new? From the girls?"

"Nothing."

"Damn." Mai looked back at her friends passing around breakfast and waited for the fear to become less consuming. It didn't work. "I- I want this case finished as quickly as possible."

"Mai." Lin's voice cut through the air and surprised Mai enough to make the brunette jump and bump into Oliver's chest. Suddenly aware of just how close she'd been standing to him, Mai flushed and hastily stepped away.

"Yes, Lin?" Mai smoothed her skirt down, careful to make sure the hem was nice and cozy around her knees in a hard-to-kick nervous tick.

"Did you have any projections last night?" Lin pulled out his laptop and looked up at Mai expectantly. His face was understanding in its severity. SPR had worked many, many cases since it opened so many years ago, and this one was already among the worst. As Mai looked at him, Mai knew he understood that things were only going to get worse.

"No," she answered quietly, "I barely got any sleep."

"I knew it." Ayako cut in, startling Mai again. This time, the miko and Masako gave her the evaluating eye, concerned to see Mai so jumpy. "You've got wells under your eyes and you keep zoning out."

"Why couldn't you sleep, Mai?" John's concern pooled in his eyes as he looked over his shoulder to see why SPR was fussing over Mai. He frowned after observing Mai's slumped posture and slightly glazed expression.

John meant well, Mai knew this in her heart where only truth was allowed to exist, but he had no idea just how weighted his question was. Of course he didn't. No one but Takigawa knew why Mai was unwilling to sleep. It wasn't uncommon for Mai to avoid sleep during cases, especially when her projections were particularly gruesome and scarring, but this -

This was something much, much worse. If Mai slept, people would die. People she loved. People she couldn't imagine living without.

Realizing that she'd been silent for too long, Mai forced a smile and winced when she felt her lips tremble.

"Mai?" John repeated, his brow folding in even more apparent concern as he turned to face her fully. The worry in his voice pulled the attention of the rest of the SPR team. Mai looked away from the priest, feeling panic swell in her chest like her own deadly ocean, and found her eyes locking with Oliver's.

The deep, endless blue of them stopped Mai in her tracks. God, Oliver was so beautiful. Mai couldn't understand how people could look at him and fail to see just how _good_ he was. It was so clear to Mai, the way Oliver worried and worked and helped everyone he could, even if it meant putting himself in danger. How he was so afraid to trust himself to people, so used to being left behind. How he trusted himself to his team anyways, and how he was always quietly surprised when they treated him with the gentle kindness he deserved. How he was the strongest person Mai had ever known. How he brought out the best of the team just by bringing them together and being with them.

Mai could see all of this in his eyes half because Oliver let her see it and half because Mai _knew_ him. His trust in her was precious to Mai, and the idea of keeping the truth from him any longer was suddenly unbearably painful. Tears welled in her cinnamon eyes like blood from an open wound across her heart.

Oliver's piercing gaze softened and his eyes widened the barest amount the way they always did when Mai started to cry. He watched the first tear slip down her cheek in silence, and then the second and the third. When her shoulders started shaking, Oliver reached his hand out to guide her to the couch so the rest of SPR could do their part in comforting the youngest member, but Mai stepped out of his reach like his touch would burn her.

Before he could wrench his hand back, Mai gasped and quickly grabbed it with her own. Her touch exploded across his skin like fire, only there was no pain and Oliver wouldn't care if he was burned to the ground.

Mai felt her hand go numb where she gripped at Oliver, and only sought to hold on tighter. There was a chill in the air that was freezing the air out of her lungs. It meant that something bad was coming, something that wanted to cause pain. Mai used her grip on Oliver's hand to pull him closer to her with a surprising amount of strength.

Behind them, their friends fell silent. In a rasp, Masako announced to the room, "Something is coming."

Takigawa leapt to his feet and brought his hands up, ready to chant the second he needed to. Ayako rushed over to Masako, pushing her back into her cocoon of blankets and placing her own body between the medium and everything else. Besides them, John began a quiet prayer, his cross gripped in a fist.

Lin kept very still, eyes focused on his shiki that only he could see. He was tensed, ready to spring out of his seat and protect his charge and his friends.

It was horrible, the way the world suddenly muted itself and the only sound that filled the eerily lit room (which was so strange because the sun was still shining happily. It was only as the light entered the room that it lost its warmth) was their nervous breathing. Nothing moved, not even the curtains. They were frozen mid-flutter.

Mai watched as Oliver's mouth moved, but heard nothing. She watched as a frown folded his lips, and then as they moved again. Still, no sound.

And then, slowly, like the flow of a lazy spring creek, Mai felt that same tug at her core. The one she had tried to forget so desperately. Unwilling to be taken to the astral plane by whatever entity haunted the beach, be it Koya or someone else, Mai tightened her grip on Oliver's hands until she could feel her bones creaking.

But the creek grew until it was a roaring river, and as the curtains resumed their dance with the wind, Mai's soul was yanked out of her body. Oliver felt when Mai's bone bending grip went slack, and it was instinct to reach out and keep her small frame from collapsing onto the floor.

As he stood there, unsure of what had just happened but thoughts already tripping over themselves to give him some explanation, Oliver cradled Mai in his arms and watched as a single tear slipped out of the corner of her eye and down over her pale, soft cheek.

 _She was afraid earlier_ , Oliver remembered. _Mai was so afraid she started crying._

Something that felt a lot like dread settled in the pit of Oliver's stomach. Ignoring it because he had to, Oliver fixed his grip on Mai's body and finally listened to Ayako's panicked instruction of placing Mai on the couch to be examined.

* * *

 _The night sky was alight with stars that somehow outshone the bursts of fireworks from down by the pier. It was a beautiful sight, and stood knee deep in the ocean was a girl with her chin tilted up._

 _It was the same girl from Mai's first dream, but this time she seemed sad. There was a heaviness to her shoulders, a sorrow in her eyes. She was alone. And she was walking against the tide, wading farther out into the ocean. She was singing to herself in a whisper, something soft and melancholy._

 _Mai watched her from the beach, wanting desperately to call out to her. To get her to come back. But there was no use in wasting her breath. Koya would not be able to hear her._

 _Before the water could wash over her head, Koya turned onto her back and floated on the surface. With her eyes fixed on the fireworks a few miles away, she smiled._

" _Mai."_

 _Mai spun around, and saw Gene standing by the tree-line next to an old fisherman's boat. He was visibly distressed and looked worse for wear. Mai moved towards him, but found herself suddenly on her knees. She was still on the beach, but Gene was nowhere to be seen. And the night was no longer interrupted by bursts of light form the fireworks._

 _From her left, Mai heard her own voice._

" _Oliver, please, breathe. Please! Don't leave me."_


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: hiiiii, it's been another minute! things have been hectic what with the last round of midterms and finals! i have been stressed! and will continue to be stressed because i have three more finals to get through before i'm home free. it's been a rough time, but i finished my italian final today and it went well so to celebrate, i mashed out this chapter. i had half of it complete for a while, but i struggle with plot and dialogue sometime and this is all plot and dialogue so i Suffered. but, i hope this was worth it. i am happy enough with it. i did finish it like ten minutes ago so there might be a few errors lol. sorry about that. pls pls pls leave me a nice review if u have been enjoying this so far, those comments really, seriously keep me going. okay okay, im done begging. pls enjoy!**

* * *

 _Mai listened to herself grunt and whimper in the distance, stuck on her knees as if the world had taken perch on her shoulders. Like last time, the wind around her whipped at her skin, leaving hot licks of tender flesh wherever it touched. Despite the burn, Mai's heart felt frozen over._

 _"Please." Mai's voice pleaded again, this time quiet and almost hopeless. "Please, Oliver, please."_

 _The real Mai, the one that existed presently with her pulse in her throat, found herself suddenly engulfed in anger. It was her own anger, red hot and afraid, and it bloomed from her heart like fire._

 _"No." She seethed as the wind around her picked up; she payed it no mind. "No! I won't let this happen. Do you hear me? I won't let this happen!" Incensed, Mai struggled to get to her feet. She dug her fists and her heels into the sand and pushed, pushed, pushed until the wind disappeared with an audible pop and Mai sprung to her feet._

 _She spun around, eyes searching over where her desperate pleas had come from and finding nothing. The beach was undisturbed; the ocean lapped peacefully at the sand, leaving white froth as a gift for the shells, and the sun hung high in the deep blue sky like the best kind of omen._

 _Standing with her back to Mai and her feet just inches away from the reach of the ocean, was Koya. Her pale blue sundress fluttered in the soft, salt breeze like a dream. Her ember-brown hair floated around her like she was already in the water._

 _"It's not going to happen." Mai told the dead woman. Her voice was firm but it sounded like desperation. "I'm going to stop it."_

 _Koya turned around to face Mai in a fluid, dance-like twirl. Her deep brown eyes looked at Mai, and then into her, and then settled on the frantic rise of her shoulders. Her expression was solemn as she asked, "Can you?"_

 _Before Mai could find a response, the world around her shimmered as if it were a pond and someone had just thrown a rock into it. Mai kept her eyes on Koya, watched the sadness fill her eyes and tilt her lips into a solemn, wavering smile._ I don't know, _Mai thought despondently_. I don't know.

* * *

When Mai woke this time, she could feel that not much time had passed. The sun was still bearing down on the world, unforgiving in its shine, and the clock besides the wall of monitors read 3:20. Mai had been forced into projecting sometime in the morning, so she couldn't have been out for more than ten hours. She'd lost much more time to dreams like this.

But the base looked more different than Mai had expected it to in less than half a day's time. It was - well, it was a mess. For starters, most everything in the base was scattered across the floor, and a good chunk of it was in shatters. All the vases from the metal shelves had been broken and were slowly being swept into a corner by Ayako, along with tufts of curtain and papers that looked suspiciously like the files Mai had painstakingly organized the night before. Ayako looked unharmed, but she was moving carefully and was wearing a pair of sweatpants and shirt that were definitely Monk's.

To the priestess' right stood Masako, holding a trash bag open for John to dump the pieces of torn paper into. The both of them had bandages on their arms, but didn't look harmed beyond that. They did, however, look uneasy. In the short while that Mai observed the pair of them, Masako's mind wandered off a handful of times, and each time John had to call her name more than once to bring her back to the present.

Monk, who sat besides Lin on the couch closest to Mai, was the most visibly injured. He had a blood soaked bandage taped to his cheek, one eye swollen shut, and was holding himself in a way that screamed I'm in a lot of pain. One of his legs was wrapped, encased in ice packs, and being elevated by a stack of pillows. In contrast, Lin appeared untouched save for a deep purple bruise on his temple. The longer Mai looked at him, the paler he seemed to be. His eyes were closed, and Mai wanted fiercely to pry his eyes open and force him awake.

Before she could find the strength to move her very tired body, Oliver stood from where he had apparently been crouched behind the couch and tapped Lin's cheek until the older man was blinking his eyes open. Oliver handed Lin a handheld camera that Lin immediately plugged into the slightly mangled laptop to his right.

"Send the transcript with the pictures to Madoka if you can. And Yasuhara, if he is available." Oliver turned his back to Lin, and therefore to Mai, and examined the wall before him.

On them were what looked to be claw marks chipping through the paint and exposing the grey stone underneath. Mai barely payed them any mind. She did not care that the marks were inches deep, and she did not care to read the ominous message scratched into the paint just above them. Her eyes were for Oliver and Oliver only. He looked disheveled; his hair ruffled, his button up wrinkled and torn and blood stained. When he turned back around, the expression on his face was deadly.

He was okay.

No one had yet noticed that Mai was awake. At least, no one noticed until Mai rolled off the couch and scrambled over to Oliver in a mess of flailing limbs and wet eyes. Somewhere to the left, Ayako began to scold the younger woman but she stopped when a horrible, desperate whine escaped Mai's throat. Oliver pivoted so all of him was facing her, and looked down at her with that dent in his brow that screamed concern. With little consideration to his aversion to touch, Mai launched herself at Oliver and wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed as tightly as her trembling arms could manage. With her cheek pressed against Oliver's chest, Mai could hear his heart beating strong and sure, though a little quicker than what was surely considered average.

"Mai?" John asked slowly from somewhere behind her. "Are you okay?"

Mai couldn't find the words to answer him no matter how much she wished to soothe the kind priest. She was barely managing to breathe. Instead, Mai pressed her forehead into the soft fabric over Oliver's heart and took deep breaths, trying to collect herself while also trying to find the words to tell her friends, her family, that Mai was putting them all in danger. She almost crumbled back into hysterics when Oliver placed his hand over her narrow shoulders and gave them a very gentle squeeze.

"What did you see, Mai?" He questioned her quietly, letting his hands rest more heavily over her shoulders. Mai wondered if he knew how grounding his touch was. She pressed her face further into his chest and did her best to keep from bursting into tears again.

"I-" Mai gripped at Oliver's shirt and failed to pull away. "I didn't see anything."

His hands on her shoulders twitched minutely. _He thinks I'm lying_.

"Not - It wasn't about the case." Mai continued before Oliver could do something like pull away. The thought of not being able to hear and feel proof of Oliver's life was, at that very moment, unfathomable. "It wasn't about the case. Don't let go."

"Mai, honey, what's wrong?" Ayako's concern felt like a too thick blanket to Mai's frazzled mind. She wanted to shake it off, to take Oliver and take him far, far away to somewhere open and safe.

"It's - I thought they were done." Mai found herself telling the room before she could consciously decided to. "After Minnie, they stopped. They stopped. I thought I was free."

"They?" Masako asked at the same time that Takigawa released a short, heavy sigh.

"Was it another one of _those_ dreams?" He questioned carefully, slowly turning his body to face the youngest team members. His query earned him pointed and inquisitive glares, but he ignored them.

"No." Mai felt her heart leap back into her throat. "No, I won't let it be."

"Mai-" Takigawa made to stand up, but Ayako snapped her fingers and gave him a very heated glare. He remained seated.

"No, Monk." Mai's grip on Oliver grew, somehow, tighter. Though slightly uncomfortable, the somber man wasn't going to push his trembling assistant away. He felt she would fall apart if he let her go.

"What kind of dreams are these?" Oliver asked, doing his best to casually bring one of his hands to rest on Mai's nape. Almost immediately, Mai's trembling ceased and her breaths stopped coming out in short pants. She relaxed. And then the question registered in her mind and every part of her body went rigid.

Over Mai's shoulder, Takigawa deliberately looked out the splintered window, away from all the scrutiny. They would not get an answer from him, no. This was not his story to tell. Every eye in the room turned to Mai.

Mai, who slowly raised her chin enough to peek over Oliver's shoulders and see the message scratched into the wall behind them:

leave or die leave or die leave or die leave or die leave or die

Mai gathered every ounce of strength she possessed and stepped away from Oliver. She kept a hand fisted in his shirt and refused to let go even as she forced her wobbly legs to carry her back to the couch on which she woke up. Oliver moved with her willingly. She more so collapsed on the cushions than voluntarily sat down, but as soon as Oliver took the seat next to her, everyone in the room witnessed Mai's resolve bring a little bit of light back into her eye.

She started a while after the team settled around her. Takigawa sat up, his face pinched in pain and anticipation; he knew what was coming. That fact had Ayako looking uncharacteristically severe, as her boyfriend wasn't one to keep secrets from her. The miko held Masako's hands clenched between her own, and hovering over their shared sette was John with his worried baby blues. Lin remained still and pale in his seat.

"They're different." Her voice was a barely there rasp. Her eyes were unfocused and staring out to the light jumping over the ocean's surface. "These dreams. I don't - understand why they happen.

"The first one happened a few months after Naru and Lin left Japan. I thought maybe it was just a stress thing because I lost my job and I hadn't spoken to any of you in days and my landlord was demanding a few months of advanced rent. It was horrible, because it was someone I knew and she - _she died_ right there in front of me in my dream, but it was just a dream. And then it happened again, a few days after the first time, but it felt - wrong. Bad. Like I had done something wrong. The dreams were a lot like my post-cognitive dreams; they were very vivid and detailed and I remembered everything. But, again, I thought it was just stress. But - but then, I noticed something

"The dreams, they happened in spurts, kind of. Like, random glimpses and snap shots. They were long enough for me to understand what was happening, but never long enough for me to figure out why they were happening. But then, I was at work - at the library by the tea shop Ayako likes so much - and I dropped a bunch of books on myself. It hurt but I - I knew it was going to hurt. Because I had seen it before, the books falling and my arms reaching up to try and stop them. I had seen it in my dream. It unsettled me. I didn't think much of it, because deja vu from dreams is pretty common, right? Everyone feels that. But that night, it was - it was so bad.

"I think my finally realizing that I was dreaming of things before they happened made the dreams more intense. That night I saw myself on the 14th of March making dinner with Minnie, and there was an eviction notice on my door, and it was raining, and the radio was talking about a bus accident, and then I was dreaming of Minnie running to the store with her stupid cat raincoat, and a car drove by and splashed her and she yelled at it but it kept going and she had a different haircut than what I knew she had at that time, and then Minnie was being murdered in an alley that I didn't recognize but she was screaming and fighting, and there was blood in her eyes and she was afraid, and the rain was so loud that no one could hear her and she lay there for - I don't know how long but she died there, alone and cold. I dreamt all of that so clearly, and I was sick as soon as I woke up but I had no reason to really believe that all of that was going to happen."

It was like the damn had cracked, and the only secret Mai had ever kept was spilling out, too quickly to tame. "I tried to find Gene to see if he knew what these dreams were, because they scared me, but I couldn't find him. They kept happening and sometimes they changed, but only in the little things like what Minnie shouted at the driver or what she was wearing, or even what I was cooking. I - I started sleeping less because they were so horrible. Minnie was my only friend, you know? She lived just a floor beneath me and she was my age and she understood what it meant to be alone and - she was all I had in that time and I couldn't - I couldn't keep watching her die such a horrible death. I only slept when I absolutely needed to. But the dreams had only been dreams so far. Nothing happened. And then, on March 11th, I came home to find an eviction notice on my door. I didn't even care that I was going to be homeless. The only thing that mattered was that in my dream, I had the same notice. And even after I ripped it off, my dream changed so that there was no notice on my door. And then Minnie cut her hair, and it was the same style she had in my dream. And when I convinced her to change it, it changed in the dream, too. Everything I changed showed up in my dreams, and nothing I did stopped her from dying. Every night, the dream ended the same way.

"On the 14th, I stuck with Minnie. I didn't let her go anywhere by herself. We went to work, had lunch, and then went to Minnie's instead of mine. I asked to order some take out, and Minnie agreed. I kept the radio off. We had a movie night - I can't even remember what movie because I was so focused on keeping Minnie safe. And then, around eight or nine the lights in the building went off. It was a power outage, and Minnie didn't have any flashlights or candles. When we checked my apartment, it turned out that neither did I. So Minnie wanted to go to the store.

"I tried to convince her that we would be fine in the dark, that it was raining and we would get sick, but she said she needed to restock on batteries and snacks for more movies. I knew she would go without me, so I agreed. We got splashed by the stupid car and Minnie screamed at it like she always did. He - I noticed him following us a few minutes later. I didn't wait to confirm that he was dangerous, I just grabbed Minnie and started running. She was scared, because he started running after us and it was a dark and empty street and it was raining. We cut through a park, and I kept Minnie in front of me and I was so focused on keeping her away from him that - he tackled me and when I landed, I did something to my ankle. I couldn't get back up, and he had a knife but Minnie was still there so I grabbed him. I tried to keep him away from Minnie but she was running back towards us and he just, he cut me," Mai traced a trembling finger over her sternum and down towards her stomach, "here. It burned and I couldn't get up, and he wanted Minnie, not me, and he chased her and she ran and the police found her before they found me. She had been stabbed ten times and I couldn't save her. I knew what was going to happen but nothing I did could stop it. Nothing."

Finally, the words ran out and all Mai had left to do was cry. She did her best to keep from thinking of that night, of Minnie and her bright, bright smile, of waking up on the ground with a policeman shining a light into her eyes, of sobbing the whole way to the hospital because _Minnie was dead_. She had spent years trying to convince herself that there was nothing she could do, that there was no way she could have saved Minnie but now, here she was, facing the same problem and unwilling to accept that she was helpless and terrified that maybe she was. She couldn't lose Oliver. She couldn't.

It took a while for Mai to realize that Takigawa had taken the reigns of the conversation. He was the only one that knew about Minnie and those dreams, but not because Mai chose to tell him. He was her emergency contact. When Mai was admitted to the hospital as a minor, Takigawa was called and when Mai woke up to see her Monk for the first time in months, and he was holding her hand, everything just came out. Mai was beyond terrified of ever having a dream like that again, of having to watch helplessly as someone else she loved died. She swore Takigawa to secrecy, and, looking at the too thin, too pale, too heartbroken girl that he considered his family, he agreed.

"We tried to figure out why Mai was having these dreams." Takigawa explained when Mai could not. "We contacted as many spiritualists as we could, but they all either thought we were joking or couldn't find any explanation. The best guess we have is from Gene - Mai told me he showed up a few weeks before Naru and Lin came back. Gene said that it was probably the astral plane pouring a little bit of its essence into Mai in response to her stress, or just some negative energy surrounding her. Because if Mai can connect to the past through the astral plane, maybe she could connect to the future as well. It's never been observed, or at least recorded, because we found absolutely nothing when we were doing our research."

Mai couldn't bring herself to look up from her hunched position, so she had no idea how the rest of SPR were responding to her story. She could only feel Oliver's steady breathing from where her hand was still clutching at his shirt, embarrassingly enough. She didn't want to let go, though. Feeling the healthy warmth of his body was a reassurance Mai was unwilling to give up.

When Lin spoke, his voice was thin with pain. "Are you certain you're having those kind of dreams?"

Mai knew he wasn't doubting her. No, Lin was just the type to never be less than absolutely sure. It took several deep, slow breaths before Mai managed to straighten up and meet Lin's eyes. "Yes," she breathed. "I can feel it, here."

She pushed a clenched first into her gut, and when she finally looked around the room and saw the tears running down Ayako's face and gathered in the corner of Masako's eyes, and the deep, deep sadness pooling in John's, Mai felt it travel up to her heart.

At last, Mai chanced a glance at Oliver. He looked mostly indifferent, though still more ruffled than normal. His hair was sticking up the slightest bit in the front but curling towards his eyes at his temple, and he was just so handsome. Looking at him, Mai felt calmness sweep over her. But then her practiced eyes saw the clench of his jaw and the stiffness of his arms at his side, careful not to touch any part of Mai.

Alarmed, Mai pulled her aching fingers away, mentally berating herself for clinging to her boss, to Oliver like he was a teddy bear and she, a frightened child. Before she could get far, though, Oliver's hand shot out and gripped at Mai's wrist. His fingers pressed against her pulse point. Startled, Mai's eyes shot back to Oliver's face and caught on the obvious frown adorning his lips.

"Have you been experiencing negative emotions?" He asked in his no-nonsense voice. The gentleness of his hands on hers opposed the fierceness in his eyes, yet, at the same time, it didn't at all.

Mai found herself smiling while tears simultaneously sprang to her eyes. "No. No, I've been really happy. I've never been happier." And that was the truth. Mai had everything she needed in that moment; security, love, friendship, an exciting future. There was virtually nothing to stress her out or make her sad or angry.

"What did you see in your dream, Mai?"

Even before Oliver could finish asking his question, Mai was already shaking her head. The meager calmness she had managed to assume dissipated instantly, and the trembling creeped back into her bones. Again, too stricken to consider Oliver's comfort, Mai wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself into his side. "It can't happen. It can't. I won't let it."

Without hesitation, Oliver brought an arm around Mai's frame and placed a soothing hand at the base of her spine. Even there, Oliver could feel the shuddering of her body. It didn't take much guess work to figure out what Mai had dreamt. The possibility of his own demise was - unsettling. But, Oliver folded that fact up and put it away to examine later. He had other things to focus on.

"Mai, sweetie, it's okay." Ayako has reached her limit. There were only so many Mai Tears she could handle in one sitting. Nestled against Oliver's pulse point, Mai heaved a quivering sigh.

"Sorry." She whispered. "Sorry, I - give me a minute."

Ayako nodded with a tight smile and red-rimmed eyes. She walked over to Mai's tea set and started preparing a soothing mix. Masako quickly stood to join her, pausing to wrap Mai's blanket around her shoulders. Under Ayako's instruction, Masako and John helped give Lin and Monk their doses of pain medication and situated them so they could be more comfortable. All the while, Mai remained clinging to Oliver, and Oliver kept a hand wrapped securely around his assistant, unwilling to let her go.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: lol hi, it has been quite a while since i posted the last chapter and for that i am sorry. school is hectic of course bc i am a chem major and am literally dying every second i am awake hahahahHa. i had a big chunk of this chapter done a while ago, but then i left it for a few weeks and when i came back to it, i could not remember what i had been planning to do lol, so i had to start over kind of so this chapter is short and mostly filler but i hope u can enjoy it anyways :)))) also, idk if i've done this yet but ALL THE DAMN THANKS to everyone who has favorited and followed and left such kind reviews. y'all always give me the drive to write a little more, i appreciate you all so very much and know that every word i have written is because and for you**

* * *

Later in the day, as evening cracked the sky and spilled thousands of stars, Mai regained a type of calm. She'd sat at the couch as the rest of the team went about with their duties, bundled up and never without a steaming cup of tea in her hands. Though she knew she'd quicky tire of this too-gentle handling, Mai basked in it while she felt she could, happy to have her family fuss over her.

Now, the day was coming to a close. Ayako and John left for a while to change the camera batteries and get dinner, but they had returned less than an hour ago and most of the food was already gone. Mai had even managed to eat a plate. Worryingly, Lin ate just a little more than Mai. Ayako was keeping a careful eye of his condition, aided by Oliver's astute observations he managed to make without looking away from his work.

Since Mai's words spilled out of her like blood, Oliver had yet to leave her side. He sat beside her the entire time and read through files, trying to make progress on their case. He was mostly silent, but just his company was more than enough for Mai.

Now, Lin and Takigawa were being given another round of medicine by a wrinkled-browed Ayako. Lin wielded more color in his face and could shift in his seat without going sheet white. Still, Oliver forbade him from getting off the recliner. Takigawa couldn't stand even if he wanted to, but if by some miracle he was able to get to his feet, Ayako was prepared to full body tackle him back down. She threatened him so multiple times in the past two hours alone.

"Any new information on the case?" John asked suddenly, rising to throw his emptied plate away. "I feel like we haven't been doing a lot of case work, though we are right to not have." He shot Mai a quick, easy smile that spread over her skin like sunlight. She ducked her chin into her mound of blankets and felt well loved.

Oliver, the only person who was actively working on the case at the moment, did not respond. He continued typing something on his laptop. When Mai peeked out of the corner of her eye she saw that it was an email inquiry addressed to Madoka.

"I think we've hit a dead end." Mai announced aloud. Her voice was a little hoarse but much livelier than earlier; the whole room was happy to hear it. "The facts say that it's Koya haunting this beach - her death was traumatic enough to warrant some kind of haunting, and all the deaths since hers are similar-ish. But there are still things that fail to be explained away by Koya being our entity, like my ESP suggesting other answers and the activity that's hellbent on scaring us out of this house. She's our only lead, though, and without new information there are no other explanations we can come to."

"Maybe Koya is a split entity. Like, a part of her wants to make others suffer the same death she did, and another part wants to warn people away before she can kill them." Takigawa offered around Ayako as she continued to fuss over him. He wouldn't admit it, but Mai believed he was enjoying the attention almost as much as she was. The soft look in their eyes as they looked at each other was almost painful to witness.

"Split spirits display more chaotic behavior than this, and are much more violent." Oliver countered monotonously. Mai was surprised that she was surprised to hear his input. She knew, perhaps more than anyone, that Oliver was always paying attention.

"Then, shall we say that there is more than one entity on this beach?" Lin inquired, unable to type anything down and probably missing it; his fingers kept twitching. His eyes were closed, but no longer in a wince, and Mai imagined that he was picturing what he would be typing if he wasn't concussed. "If the observed behaviors are so opposing."

"The records do not sustain this theory." Oliver pointed out, shutting his laptop and lacing his hands over the top. Like this, he looked every bit the intimidating boss-man many had come to respect and fear in equal measures. "There have been no other significantly traumatic deaths on this beach, neither before or after Koya's death."

"It could be that one of her victims has taken to warning other potential victims." Ayako suggested, finally taking a seat besides Takigawa. As she settled a modest distance away from her man, probably trying to spare him any discomfort or pain, said man nodded his agreement.

Before Oliver could respond, Masako spoke up with a haughty sureness in her chime of a voice. "I do not sense a victim. Overwhelmingly, the presence on this beach is just sinister when I manage glimpses of it. I cannot sense any other emotion."

"Then maybe someone connected to Koya. Or someone who lived before the records started." Mai sighed. This case, though a good distraction from the panic still sizzling underneath her skin, was getting more complicated the longer Mai thought about it. It was very frustrating. "Or maybe we have everything wrong and it's actually the ocean that's possessed."

"Yes, Mai." Oliver deadpanned. "The sentient salt water is seeking revenge against those who have polluted it."

Rising to the bait, unaware of her family's relief at seeing her back to normal spirits, Mai argued, "Well, crazier things have happened, Naru. You basically fist fought a god."

Though Mai understood that wasn't entirely accurate - the spirit was just _really_ powerful - that's how she remembered it. Oliver, fearlessly and selflessly, facing down the most terrible entity SPR had ever faced and damning it back to the pits of hell. And then collapsing, near death, and scaring Mai more than Mai had ever been scared.

The memory of it put an immediate damper on her mood. Before it was allowed to stew, though, Ayako spoke up, commanding the attention of the room.

"I could perform a rite to see what I can sense." She offered. "I haven't really been able to focus on the trees nearby, but I get the feeling that they're hesitant. Tense. It could be because of the recent deaths, but it could also be something more."

The room became pensive. In a low voice, Lin voiced their doubts, "Are there enough trees on the beach? I haven't seen any near the houses."

"No, the trees are at the end of the beach, a few meters after the line of houses ends. We saw them on our walkthroughs."

"Isn't that too far?" Masako asked, holding a delicate hand over her mouth. "The trees would know nothing if they did not see what happened."

Surprisingly gentle with her words, Ayako explained, "The trees see differently than we do. They are not limited by what is visible. They operate on a plane that is closer to the spiritual world than to the living world. So long as they're on the beach, I'm sure I can get information from them."

The room lapsed into silence, wordlessly pondering the possible dangers of carrying out a reading like this. Ayako waited patiently for the team to come to a decision.

"Tomorrow." Oliver announced after some intense eye communication with each member of SPR. "After noon, but before sunset. From now on, no one is to be unaccompanied by at least one other team member. The beach should not be visited unless you're in a group of four, but it is completely off limits once it's dark. Mai, you are not to go anywhere near the beach."

"But-" Mai started before realizing that the argument was more a force of habit than an actual dissention. If she considered it just a little, she found that no part of her wanted anything to do with this beach. She would watch the ocean glitter from a distance, in the (very) relative safety of the house. This was where she should be. "Fine. I can be okay with that."

Oliver's eyes flickered quickly with surprise, and then with appeasement. His lips quirked up in the barest hint of a smile that made Mai consider agreeing more often just to see it again. Quickly enough to make some part of Mai twinge, the smile melted off his face to be replaced by a serious considering look.

"Mai." he said again, pausing before broaching the subject Mai knew he would. "If you have another one of - those dreams, I want you to wake Ayako or Masako and have them escort you to me. If this is a threat to our safety, I would like to take every precaution. You will have to tell me everything."

Mai nodded, throat tense and eyes stinging. She had been carefully ignoring the fact that she would have to sleep again, eventually. She very briefly entertained the idea of not sleeping, but knew that would make her a liability to the rest of her team, too tired to be rational and protect herself. She wouldn't be that kind of distraction.

"I've only had the two dreams so far, and each was forced on me. And through them both, I only caught a glimpse of Gene." Her brows furrowed as she turned to face Oliver fully, pulling a leg up to hug against her chest. "He was trying to tell me something but I have no clue what it was. Whatever spirits haunt this place kept his words from reaching me."

Oliver mirrored her frown. "Was he - taken?" He forced out, though the strain was well concealed.

"No, not really." Mai quickly assured, placing her hand lightly on Oliver's shoulder. Her cinnamon eyes were wide and tender. "He kind of flickered into my projection, like he'd been trying really hard to and then couldn't maintain the strength to stay. Like that case with the nun."

"Oh." Masako sighed unhappily. She pulled her fluffy cardigan tighter around her shoulder then crossed her arms over her abdomen. "The nun case was horrible. If this spirit is anything like her, I think we should be very, very careful."

Mai nodded in agreement, the heat dissipating from her body just at the memory of that case. It had been the scariest and most difficult case SPR had ever faced up until that point, and it ended with four of them in the hospital and not one of them completely unscathed. Worst of all, the indication that this case would be anything like it was something Mai found she had already known.

"This is going to be difficult." She muttered mostly to herself. Though her heart was beginning to race with both fear and anticipation for what was to come, Mai pulled the steel back into her spine. She wanted this case solved, and she wanted it to happen without any of her family being hurt more than they already were. She wasn't sure if that was possible, but damn if she wasn't going to do everything she could to make sure it was.

"We should get a good night's rest, then." She declared with a smile. The corners of her lips trembled minutely, and everyone could see how afraid she was at the prospect of having to sleep again, but the smile lit up her eyes and filled them with warmth. "We haven't done a canvas of the town yet, so I was thinking we can get an early start and still have time for Ayako's rite."

Oliver inclined in head in permittance when Mai glanced at him in question. Her smile bloomed even further, then, and the corners were too busy dipping into her cheeks to be afraid. "Great! I have a list of places we can stop by, and a few shops and restaurants that have great ratings. Also, there's a few _antique_ places that are family owned and I figure we can get some new information or, at the very least some gossip from there."

"Sounds like a plan." Takigawa laughed, and then groaned. "You'll have to enjoy everything for me."

"Oh." Mai said in commiseration. "You poor thing. I'll take a bunch of pictures and videos and bring you back anything I think worthy. And Lin," Mai continued, waiting for the Chinese man to turn his gaze towards her, "I'll make sure Naru is polite and bring you back some of the cuisine."

"I can always count on you, Taniyama-san." Lin smiled wanly.

A few minutes later, the women had bid their farewells and left the base to head to their room for the night, accompanied with John and Takigawa, the latter who was supported by Ayako and the young priest. They moved slowly, unwilling to leave anyone behind or to let anyone go ahead. The house was dark enough to foster an uneasy atmosphere, but they were whispering and making jokes at each other to ease the tension.

Mai pretended not to notice how her friends kept her in the center of their little gaggle of people.

In the base, Oliver was quietly preparing everything for the night routine. Lin, who wasn't allowed to sleep but whose concussion would keep him from being able to monitor the screens, was spread out on the larger sofa now, with a thick blanket folded underneath his head. Oliver would keep watch and wake Lin periodically, as Ayako had instructed, and wonder at the incredible nature of Taniyama Mai, whose world had been nothing but chaos for far too long and yet, she still found a reason to smile.


	8. Chapter 8

**lol hi surprise, i'm not dead! idk how long it's been since i last updated, but i've been steadily adding to this chapter for what feels like a year. i am DONE with it, and also life because it's crazy and intense and college is hard and i have very little time to breathe now, especially because me health kind of did a thing and now i rarely ever feel okay. BUT that aside, i hope there are still people who want to read this story.. it's been a long time so i kind of forgot where i was going with this story a little, but i think i've recalled enough of it to continue writing to my own** **satisfaction** **. so sorry for the wait, please please enjoy and idk pls leave reviews they really make me more dedicated to finishing this story no matter how busy and hectic my life gets.**

* * *

The next morning dawned without sun, the sky overcast with a dense layer of fog rolling off the ocean in thick, suffocating waves. The humidity sat heavily in the air, dragging its damp hands over Mai's body. She woke with her hair stuck to her temples with sweat but barely paid the slight discomfort any mind. No, Mai was too busy with the sunrise happening in her own chest because she'd managed a full night's rest, uninterrupted by any astral projections. Hell, she hadn't dreamt at all which was in a way unfortunate for the status of their case, but meant that Mai woke feeling refreshed and less like the world had been fashioned into a knife at her breastbone.

She sprang out of her bed with renewed energy, quickly and gently waking her roommates before dipping into the bathroom to get ready for the day. The dreary view looming just outside of the beach house did nothing to deter her. Her phone projected a sunny afternoon, so she dressed for that weather, hopeful to feel the sun light and the ocean breeze on her skin. She pulled on her favorite summer time sun-dress, a soft beige thing patterned with pale blue carnations that fell just below Mai's knees. The thin straps left much of her shoulders and back exposed, so she was sure to apply a charitable amount of sunscreen lest she be lectured by Oliver again. And because the past was the best teacher, Mai also made sure to pull on some sneakers instead of the cute sandals Ayako blearily suggested from her blanket cocoon to be paired with the outfit; Mai wanted to be comfortable when she inevitably had to run for her life.

It took more effort than usual to get Ayako and Masako to function properly, neither of them eager to venture out into a world as humid as the early morning. She encouraged them softly, telling them how a quick cold shower made Mai feel loads better. Fortunately, once they got going, it was a quick process of gathering their things and heading down to the base.

"That's the dress we got in Shibuya that one time, isn't it?" Masako asked as they exited their room. She looked absolutely fashionable in a plaid skirt and wispy button down that favored her dainty figure in a way that made Mai a little jealous. She even wore heels! Mai would have begged her to put on running shoes instead - you know, because they were on a case and history said there would eventually be some running from horrible things snapping at their necks - except Masako was very much capable of running in heels. It was a talent she and Ayako shared and Mai could only dream of having. She was clumsy enough on flat fleet.

"It is. It's perfect for this kind of setting; the beach, the sun - when it comes out - and the very sweet little coastal town." Mai smiled, pretending not to notice that Ayako walked purposefully slower than usual to keep Mai in front of her. "And Ayako, you're wearing the jeans I picked out for you."

Mai couldn't see it, but she was sure Ayako smiled that warm, warm smile at the back of Mai's head.

"They make my ass look good." The older woman announced shamelessly. "And they tuck my stomach in; I wouldn't wear a tank top otherwise."

"You look great." Mai said as Masako giggled into her delicate hands. "In fact, we all do. We should get John to take pictures of us while we're in town."

"Oh, no, that's a bad idea. Naru would have our heads." Masako pointed out, though her little smirk said she couldn't care less what Oliver had to say about them _wasting company time_. The sharp smiles Mai and Ayako shared with each other said they wholeheartedly 'd heard the spiel enough times to have it mostly memorized - or, at least Mai had heard it enough times for it to feature in some of her more mundane dreams.

The base was already crowded when the women entered. Lin, looking much better than he had the night before, sat at his usual seat in front of the monitors, making the whole room feel more… right, was the only word Mai's brain could supply. Takigawa, still bandaged but with crutches at the edge of his seat, smiled at them as they walked in, calling out a cheery, "Good morning, baby! Please give me drugs!"

Ayako laughed as she bee-lined her way over to Takigawa, medications already clutched in her hand. She shook her head at the defiant wiggle of his brow as he held up his crutches. "Look what Naru found for me."

She took them from his hands and dropped them behind his armchair, a soft, fond smile overtaking her face. "Even if Naru somehow managed to find you crutches, there is no way you're leaving this room." Then, with a wink and a glowing kind of flirty smile, she added, " Doctor's orders."

The smile remained in Takigawa's eyes as he pushed his lips into a pout. "But I wanted to see your hair shine in the sunlight, like fire."

At the kettle, Masako mimed vomiting to Mai as they prepared the morning tea. Mai nudged her gently, only half admonishing because Ayako and Takigawa rarely deigned to get all sweet in front of their colleagues. The other half was commiserating, as a small part of Mai simmered with tears because she was all alone and they really were perfect for each other.

Before Masako could go as far as flat out telling the elder members what she felt about their open displays of affection, Oliver cleared his throat, signalling to the room that he was to have their focus. Mai was quick to hand him his tea before taking her seat beside him, smiling brightly at his steady gaze. He watched her for a moment, and then turned away, back to the room.

"In a half hour, Mai, Masako, John and I will head into town to canvas the area and question the locals. Ayako, you're in charge of keeping the temporary invalids alive and well." Oliver announced, looking to all of his team members in turn as he gave them their assignments.

Ayako looked for a minute like she would argue against staying at the house, but looked at Takigawa and then at Lin and let out a long, accepting sigh. "Make sure to bring me back something delicious, okay?"

Mai placed a gentle, consoling hand over the older woman's shoulder, only half meaning to comfort. The easy acceptance and lightness in Ayako's eyes showed how relieved the priestess was to hear she would stay with the love of her life and one of her closest friends. They weren't defenseless, not even as injured as they were, but they were injured. It became clear over the years just how much Ayako hated to see anyone injured, especially the people she loved.

"There's a sweet shop." Masako told Ayako as she took a final swig from her tea cup. "And a vintage shop next to it. I'll find you something cute."

Ayako smiled, wide and beaming and Mai felt the sudden and intense desire to preserve it, to tuck it away into her heart so it could stay with her forever. It was, perhaps, a silly notion, but it still brought her near tears, the need to keep that beautiful smile on Ayako's face, so that Takigawa could reflect it and Masako would have to bite down on her happiness but fail to keep it from blooming in her eyes. To keep Lin's face easy and without strain, and make sure he always had something to read during those hard nights he felt he needed to stand vigil. To keep John's voice soft and happy, and Oliver's eyes open and light with contentedness.

Mai blinked her eyes quickly to get rid of the sudden burn of tears waiting to fall, and busied herself with collecting empty tea cups and plates so that no one would notice. Of course, it was foolish of Mai to think Oliver wouldn't notice her red eyes and rudolph nose. He noticed everything, but had an especially unnerving knack of knowing when Mai was doing something she shouldn't be doing. Crying, she had learned, was one of them.

Because he was kinder than the impassiveness of his face led people to believe, Oliver waited until the others in the room were deep in discussion about the merits of gelato versus ice cream for a reason Mai had missed to approach her. She had just placed the dishes down on the severely dented coffee table in the corner when Oliver tapped her gently on the shoulder.

"Are you going to tell me that it's allergies? Even though I have access to your medical records and know that you have none." Oliver asked in a low voice. He stood with his hands in the pockets of his nicely form fitting trousers, a dark, marine blue button up tucked into the waist. His waist, Mai considered distractedly, had no business being that - well, it just had no business.

"Of course not." Mai huffed, half indignant and half trying her best to not combust on the spot. She was supposed to be better at handling these emotions. "I'm a much better liar than that."

"So you would lie?"

Mai rolled her eyes and turned to face him directly, letting the man suffer the full force of her frown. He looked down at her with that light of amusement flickering behind his deadpan expression. "No, Naru. I don't lie to you anymore; you're too good at finding me out. I'm just -" Mai paused and wondered how she could best say _I'm just so filled with love for all of you in this room, my dearest friends and my chosen family I can't help but tremble with the strong desire to bend the universe with my own hands to keep you always happy and safe and healthy_. She didn't think there were words strong enough. "I love you all so much. It hit me suddenly, and I was overwhelmed. But good tears, Naru, don't worry. They're good tears."

Flushed with a little bit of embarrassment, Mai looked away from Oliver's intense ocean gaze and focused instead on the way his dark hair curled over his pale, milky skin. She felt a little silly, crying because she felt something so strongly, but was at least confident that Oliver wouldn't judge her too harshly. She'd always been a little more emotional than most; the whole team dealt with Mai's tears more than she wished they had to.

"I shouldn't be surprised." Oliver hummed, shifting on his feet so he could look over their team. He glanced again at Mai and saw that she had mimicked his movement. She caught his eye and smiled, the force of it scrunching up her nose.

"There were no dreams last night." Mai offered, knowing Oliver would hesitate to bring it up after seeing Mai cry. It was a testament to how much he had grown that he would avoid such a thing. His hunger for information aside, he did not like to see her cry. Mai saw it fitting, of course - she had shed enough tears for him. "Not even a normal one."

"Unfortunate." Oliver pointed out, because it was. "We seem to have reached a standstill. Without new and reliable information, we will not be able to proceed with the investigation."

Mia hummed, too nervous to try and follow her gut instinct to any kind of answer but considering it still. "I know my ESP is suggesting that we're missing something, but every time I've followed that thread to the astral plane, I've been - stopped."

"It would be unwise to risk you being pulled again." Oliver nodded, his hand coming up to rub at his chin. His eyes quickly swept over the room and paused at the window overlooking the foggy outline of Minatzu. "And I'm hesitant to believe the townspeople will give us sound information."

"They have sometimes." Mai argued, toying with the strap of her dress. "We just need to look for any recurring themes in their gossip, or any topics that people ignore discussing all together." Mai's gaze wandered to the ceiling as she spoke, eyes tracing the glimmer of the paint the way her mind recalled the patterns she had come across in other investigations. Confident that her plan was solid enough - which, it was really the only plan they had for moving forward, so that in itself was a big confidence boost - Mai refocused on Oliver and found him smirking down at her.

"What an investigator you've become." He said with no trace amount of snark. If anything, Mai thought she saw approval flicker in those jeweled eyes. It brought a flush of heat to her face that she attempted valiantly to ignore. The deepening of Oliver's smirk told her she was the only one to do so.

"Well, yes." She stammered, pushing off from the wall she was leaning against, away from the heat of Oliver's attentions. "I've been doing this for years now, Naru, and because you and Lin are so asocial, I have to do a lot of the talking, and you start to notice things after asking a thousand questions. Not to mention the hundreds of lectures everyone has given me about paying more attention to the things happening around me. Of course I've gotten better at it!"

"Why, yes Mai." Ayako interrupted suddenly, startling Mai enough that she stumbled into Oliver's side, completely diverting her attention to the firmness and hint of heat hiding beneath the soft cotton. While Masako snickered into her hands, never past finding joy in Mai being scolded, Mai berated herself for letting her focus narrow to where Oliver's hand gently settled her. It was no more than a brush of skin on her shoulder, but the warmth of it on hers set her alight and she struggled to keep her mind on what Ayako was saying with that velvet red smirk on her lips. How was it that she could improve herself in so many ways and still manage to lose herself in his presence like she was once again that high school student from all those years ago? "You have gotten so much better at arguing with Naru."

Feeling her face darken even further, Mai gave a huff and quickly began to gather the empty tea cups and set them on the dented table. She motioned for Masako to gather her things and grabbed Oliver by the sleeve of his button up. "We need to talk to the locals, don't we? Let's go."

The humidity had lessened dramatically by the time the small group of investigators reached Minatzu's quaint little town square, much the same as Mai's little fit of annoyance. They'd driven down, unwilling to walk the steep hill path from the house and then all the way down to the town. Mai tried to exercise as often as she could, but she knew a walk like that would leave her sore for days. Fortunately, the drive down wasn't as bumpy as the drive up the hill was, and it was pleasant in a surprisingly soothing way.

After parking the company van at a public park, the four of them promptly split into pairs and headed in opposite directions. Masako and John headed inland towards the more residential areas with plans of talking to the one victim still in town, as well as other inhabitants who were noted by the police. Mai and Oliver began to work their way along the coast line, towards the shops and restaurants that were locally run to snoop around for any local lore.

Straight to business, Oliver became quiet and pensive as they strolled under the brightening sky. Mai no longer minded this way of his, and occupied the silence by going over her list of questions in her head. She wanted to ask about Koya, curious to see if she could learn anything new about the intriguing spirit. There were some questions she had about the drownings and the connection between the victims, particularly that of some girls that looked very similar to each other. Mai figured Oliver had some obscure, out-of-nowhere questions of his own, and momentarily despaired at how much damage control she would have to do. The years had made Oliver gentler, sure, but only towards his team; everyone else was fair game for his special brand of cold indifference.

"What kind of information are you looking for?" Mai asked, suddenly very hesitant to deal with upset locals. "And how harsh are you planning on being? Because I don't want another restaurant cook to make us horrible meals again. There's some really good curry nearby according to the internet, and an acclaimed tea shop right on the beach."

Oliver glanced down at her for a second,his blue eyes no less captivating than they were that very first time, and then looked back to the street unwinding right before them, ignoring her completely. His expression never flickered once. Mai rolled her eyes and blinked at the emerging sunlight. She grumbled under her breath, something along the lines of, _just tell me you don't want to answer my question jerk there's no need to look like that_ , and pulled out the sun hat she had deigned to bring with her knowing the sun would peak its head eventually.

The hat that was once her mother's was now old and prickly around the rim with a faded navy bow tied around it. Mai loved it, and felt comforted just by having it near. Closing her eyes, she could picture her mother wearing the hat, both in their prime and glowing in the sun with the bluest sky as their backdrop. She wasn't sure if it was a made up memory, but it was a nice one all the same.

"There." Oliver stopped, gesturing to a pale green tourist shop across the street. "The owners have been around nearly as long as the town has."

Mai struggled to keep pace with Oliver as he strode towards the shop. She wasn't that much shorter than him, not anymore, but he somehow managed to move twice as fast. It was, quite frankly, completely unfair. Her (slightly irrational) irritation dissipated instantly when Oliver held the door open for her to enter the shop first.

"Hell- Oh!" Mai gasped, looking around the store and quickly finding herself face to face with a stuffed pufferfish. "Oh, geez. That scared me."

Oliver huffed from behind, moving around her without a glance. Knowing that he would _somehow_ know even without seeing her, Mai stuck her tongue out at his back as he approached the counter. His shoulder twitched, but he remained facing the counter and only breathed harshly as Mai came to stand behind him.

There was an elderly woman sitting behind the cash register, soft and dressed in many colors. She beamed at Oliver and then over his shoulder at Mai, who quickly returned a sunshine smile of her own. "Hello!" The woman greeted. "Tourists, right? How can I help you?"

Without preamble, Oliver stated, "We have questions about the series of drownings that have occurred here recently."

Before the words had finished spilling out of Oliver, the woman's cheeriness fell away and was replaced by a grey kind of wariness. Mai quickly stepped up to the counter, placing a mollifying hand over Oliver's elbow to stop any words he might have left. "We're part of an investigative team that was invited to Minatzu by Officer Ichida. Any information you have can be very helpful to us."

The woman nodded slowly, her wrinkled hands entangling with the pearls clasped around her neck. She stood suddenly, looked from Oliver to Mai, and then sat back down. She nodded again. "You're ghost hunters, right?"

Mai knew Oliver would not like that one bit, and rushed to answer the question before he could. She squeezed his elbow again and said, "We sometimes investigate the paranormal, yes. That's the approach we're taking now."

The woman released a shaky sigh and Mai pulled out her journal, prepared to transcribe whatever the woman would say next. Beside her, Oliver leaned the slightest bit forward and gave his full attention to the woman.

After a deep breath, she began. "My name is Yamataka Emao. I've already talked to the police about this a few years ago, before they were really investigating this as anything … paranormal." She paused then, eyes darting around nervously. "People don't like to talk about it. Some would say that talking on this very subject is what made all the - the bad things start happening. But even when we stopped speaking, those things didn't stop happening."

"What 'bad things' do you mean?" Oliver questioned. His face was wooden, eyes calculating, and his chin tucked carefully into the nook created by his fingers. Mai felt a gentle blanket of warmth envelop her.

"The drownings, and the ransacking of the houses along the beachfront. And a lot of unlucky things that don't mean all that much when they're considered separately, but are much more alarming when you put them together. We are such an unlucky town. You learn to live with it, if you grow up here like most of us." Yamataka spoke in a rush, hands never not fidgeting with her pearls. "But the newer residents, and especially the tourists, they don't get it the way we do."

Oliver's brows dipped, only for a second and very slightly, and Mai beat him to his question before his lips could even twitch. "Could you clarify what you mean by unlucky?"

Yamataka nodded, her eyes going a little glossy. "It's - my mom never liked to talk about it, but my secondary school teacher would tell us stories after school, when we were waiting for our parents. She was always very honest with us, taught us things she probably shouldn't have, but knowing what she told us kept us alert. People in this town, they're prone to tragedy. Bad things happen to us all the time and out of the blue. Sometimes it's small things, like someone's home garden failing or mail always ending up at the wrong house. Power outages at the worst moments. A house that always needs repairs. But sometimes it's a lot more grievous; a string of car accidents, bankruptcy, people running off, sudden and terrible illnesses, death.

"But for some reason, the less we talk about it, the better things are. Besides the - the, um, drownings, nothing really bad has happened to any of the residents in years. I think, the last real tragedy was the disappearance of Tomita Morie, my teacher. She went on a walk one day, heading away from the beach and towards town to have dinner with her family, but she never made it to the restaurant. She was never seen again. In fact, this was just before the drownings started become significantly worse around '67. I always thought she disappeared because she talked about those things she wasn't supposed to talk about, and that fear kept me silent for so long. But three years ago, my granddaughter was drowned. We've been silent for decades, but still, she died and - and so I went to the police, but they knew all that I knew, and weren't willing to do more than take my name and pray that nothing bad happened to their families. I understood, of course, but I hope this information is enough to help."

Yamataka took a deep breath and let the tears fall from her eyes without shame. "I can feel my skin crawl, right now. Like something knows what I've just spoken, and is now watching me. But I'm not afraid, not anymore. I've lived a good, long life, more than I thought I would have when I was sixteen. Whatever is happening, it's been happening for much too long."

Mai blinked her own tears out of her eyes, finishing her notes with a shaky hand. The hairs at the back of her neck were stood at attention, and the whole of her body felt like it was encased in ice. Oliver, easily took over the interview and pressed his elbow against Mai's, a steadfast anchor in the wave of _runrunrunwhileyoustillcanitscomingfor Y O U_ that swept over her.

The interview ended soon after Mai was able to calm the chill creeping over her skin. After her spiel, Yamataka seemed hurried to get the investigators out of her shop, and as they'd gathered more than enough new information, Oliver was easily driven back out into the sun. Mai followed him quietly, knowing already in her heart that Yamataka's information was not only sound but at the root of the evil eating away at the town.

"Did you record all of that?" Oliver asked. When Mai continued staring out at the ocean with furrowed brows, he pulled harshly at the ribbon around her waist. Mai jerked, and smacked him none too gently for startling her.

The question registered in her head a moment later, and she responded, "Of course I did." Mai reached into her handbag and pulled out the recording device to shut it off. She threw it back into her bag with little care, earning herself a judgmentally raised brow.

"Good." Oliver said. "I doubted your ability to write all of that down."

Mai sighed, unsurprised. "Yeah? Me too. I - well, I wasn't expecting that at all."

Oliver continued to lead their way to the next shop, this one a blatant souvenir shop closer to the ocean. The sunlight washed over his pale skin delicately, and though Mai worried he would get sunburnt, she was helpless to the way he downright shimmered.

"What do you suppose about what Yamataka-san said?"

"It's the truth, more so than anything else we've heard." A car drove past them, slow and curious and a bright, shiny red. It's color stood out in the washed out blues and faint greys of the town's buildings. Mai watched it until it disappeared into a mechanics workshop. "It feels right. And dangerous"

"It's vague and filled with the superstitions of an older generation." Oliver stopped underneath an umbrella propped open outside a cafe. Mai squeezed underneath the shade beside him, valiantly attempting to ignore how that left little room to breathe between them. "Correlation is not causation."

"No." Mai agreed. She held Oliver's gaze and felt proud - she did this all the time because they had conversations all the time, but meeting those eyes like water on fire would never stop sending her heart aflutter. "But I can feel that it's right. We can check the records, reach out to the insurance companies to fact check. I know we'll find the rates here much higher than average. And the energy of this town feels like misery, slow and seeping. Like bad things are just around the corner, and they are. That explains why I've been so on edge here!" Mai was on a role now, eyes heated and voice confident and strong. Oliver stared down at her, unblinking. "My ESP can feel the imbalance, and it won't stop telling me that something bad will happen. And, though we don't know why I dreamt about - about Minnie d- about that, we speculated that it was some kind of disparity in the energy between the astral plane and the waking world. And if that's what's happening here, then maybe that's why I'm having dreams again.

"But whatever the source of the imbalance is - to be so disruptive it has to be a powerful entity. And whatever is haunting this place is _definitely_ strong since it has managed to cause such trouble for so long and with such consistency. But that's not Koya. It can't be, because whenever I feel her near us or she's in my dreams, she doesn't feel that strong or even bad - really, she just feels sad. So the source has to be something else, but there - the records have nothing else. Oh!" Mai gasped, finally remembering that she needed to breathe. "But if what Yamataka says is true, and I know it is, I do, then there is something here that is potentially older than Koya, something darker and truly evil. That kind of lore is specific to demons and gods and other dark beings, which can only mean bad things for us and - and we don't need that, we really don't. And we have nothing to look further into other than some kind of entity that creates what, bad luck? Misfortune? Something present enough to know what the people are saying and react accordingly. None of its crimes are by chance, it's consciously destructive, it has an agenda. It targets young women, a lot of them with brown-ish hair and light eyes and small statures. It drowns them in the ocean. That's all we know. Oh! This is so frustrating."

Heaving, Mai took a staggering step backwards into the sunlight. She stumbled, and Oliver steadied her before she was aware she even lost her footing.

"This case is affecting you." He commented slowly. "More so than usual."

Mai, still struggling to catch her breath, shot him a pleading look. "It's gotten underneath my skin, Naru. I need to know what is happening, and I need to understand why it's seeping into my dreams. I cannot -" Mai squeezed her eyes shot, physically cringing away from the memory of her dreams, of what could potentially happen to Oliver. Quietly, in a voice tearing from the strain in her heart, "I need it to not happen."

There was no guarantee that they could keep the events from happening, if Mai's dreams really were prophetic. Oliver knew this, so he said nothing. He pushed Mai back underneath the umbrella, into the chair nestled against the shop's wall, and then disappeared inside. With a groan, Mai slumped forward and wished to be back at the office, where she could easily file some paperwork to occupy her antsy hands. Nothing made sense, but all the pieces were so close to coming together. It was so incredibly frustrating Mai wanted to scream, and she was so unbelievably terrified at the same time and wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.

A soft clink sounded by the cusp of her hear, startling her upright. A teacup. And a pale hand sliding it towards her. Oliver's face betrayed nothing, but Mai smiled like the sun rose in her eyes only. "Thank you."

"This case is confusing." Oliver began as Mai sipped calmly at her tea, settling back into her skin and into the seat. "I would say we know what is happening, but we do not know why. Without knowing why, there is virtually nothing we can do to help. The threat of this entity is ever looming, and the threat of your dreams is just as concerning. So much is happening, but the threads of reason are tangled and muddled and it gives me a headache."

"All we can do is continue to investigate as thoroughly as we always do, and trust each other the same as we always have." As blase as he could be with Mai's emotional turmoil, Oliver leant forward and allowed a small, reassuring smile. "Like this, we will be okay."

Mai hid her smile behind the teacup, gaze falling to the flower patterned table lest she meet eyes with Oliver, catch another glimpse of his sincerity and promptly combust into flames. But nothing warmed her heart like Oliver letting himself just be and feel and emote. She looked up, and though his smile was gone now, his eyes were still on her and they were soft.

Once the tea was gone and Mai felt calm enough to dive back into this mess of a case, Mai stood and smoothed her dress down with calmer hands. She tidied up their table and took the shop's china back to the counter, bidding goodbye before darting back out into the sunlight.

A few paces down from the shop, Oliver stood waiting against a lamp post with his hands in his pockets and his eyes slowly tracking over the people around them.

Again, Mia thought him beautiful. The wind blew suddenly, gently forceful and pushed Mai down the street towards the man she loved. The wind continued to kick up, ruffling the skirt of her dress around her legs in a way that threw Mai's precarious balance even more off kilter, and attempted to lift her mother's hat right off her head. Mai knew she probably looked a fool, grabbing at her knees to keep her dress from tripping her up and clutching desperately at her hat. She stumbled into a few people, apologizing profusely and almost combusting when a dark haired man had to righten her before she tipped into the street.

"Sorry!" She shouted at his retreating figure once the wind died down enough to let her regain her balance. "Thanks for the help!"

When she finally reached Oliver, his eyes were loose with amusement.

"Hush!" She whined, cheeks heating up. "You try walking around in a wind like that with a dress like this."

In a deadpan, Oliver replied, "Though the dress is pleasing, I think I am better built for slacks." Then he grabbed Mai's elbow and tugged her along, heading to their next destination. Mai huffed, jogging a little to keep up with his long strides. They had walked less than a block when the young investigator realized Oliver had complimented her dress. _Pleasing_ , he had said.

She couldn't have kept the stupid grin off her face if she tried. This was a dangerous thing to do, Mai knew. Even entertaining the idea of entertaining what this could mean was dangerous, and Mai should know better. But his hand was still on her elbow and when Mai jerked to a stop, his hand slid down the length of her arm and entangled itself in the warm cocoon of Mai's fingers. And stayed there.

"Mai-" Oliver started, turning around to berate his assistant for lollygagging more than they already had and found himself breathless. " _Mai."_

Oliver hurried forward, mind going eerily numb at the pale and frightened expression on the girl's face. But he could only spare a glance at her slack lips and blown eyes, barely allowed himself to wonder where her gaze was drawn to, more worried about the blood blooming into a horrific stain on the waist of her dress. One of her hands was clutching at it, grip strangely relaxed as red continue to slip past her fingers.

Oliver's hand pressed against hers, trapping it between her petite waist and his own. His other hand came up to her neck, applying pressure at both ends to get her to the ground. Her glassy eyes were focused, but on something over Oliver's shoulder. His fingers trembled against her pulse, and the soft whisper of them against her jaw drew Mai's focus.

She returned to him with a trembling gasp, the hand held underneath his own tensing as her grip tightened on her side.

"Mai, you need to keep the pressure here. Okay? Keep pushing down. You, call an ambulance. Hurry!" Oliver's cold glare lit a fire underneath the feet of the onlookers gathered around them, and they sprung into action. He returned his focus to the girl in his hands, feeling a tremble slowly set into her bones and make her cheek cold to his touch. "Mai, look at me - look at me. How did this happen?"

She looked at him, lips trembling and eyes drowning in tears. "You can't come to me, Oliver."

"Did something hit you?" He demanded, voice low to mask the fear setting his heart on fire. "Mai, answer the question. What happened?"

"If you do, you'll die." She sobbed. Mai slipped her bloody hand out from underneath his, and encased his face as best as she could as she shook before him. Oliver froze, confused and unsettled by that fact - and even more so by the warmth of Mai's blood on his skin, pressed into his flesh by her own. She was crying. He hated when she cried.

"Let him take me, okay." She continued, spreading ice through Oliver's skin as he tried to understand what she was babbling on about. "Don't come after me. Don't."

"Mai." He hissed, trying his best to be angry. "Shut up. Stop talking, you're _bleeding._ "

"Don't die for me." She whimpered, thumb tracing half circles of blood under his cheek. Her touch was a balm still, even as her blood continued to spill from her body and her words stabbed at his heart. Her thumb that remained clean of that horrible dark red pressed firmly against his bottom lip. "I couldn't live if you did. So don't, okay, Naru. Don't, please."

Shouts around them alerted Oliver to the arrival of the paramedics - or whatever this town had that most closely resembled paramedics. He listened to their approach, too preoccupied with tracing a mirror pattern over Mai's cheeks, amazed at how stupid she could still be.

"Stupid girl." He voiced. Despite the words he spoke, his voice was so soft Mai only just managed to hear it. "I will always come for you."


	9. Chapter 9

**this feels so weird! i posted not that long ago, and already here is ch 9. i wouldn't say i'm on a roll though because i've been writing as a way to relieve stress and the stress has been suffocating so this is definitely not my best, sorry about that ... anyways, this is kind of filler, a good amount of plot, mostly just soft stuff. pls pls pls leave a review if u have a single thought about this. the reviews from ch 8 really made me eager to write and move the story along! i kind of remembered where i'm taking this and i'm excited to lead u guys there! enjoy !**

* * *

 _She was walking, hands tucked comfortably into the pockets of her soft cardigan, kept safe away from the chilly evening breeze. The sounds of her careful feet marching over the beaten path fell victim to the ocean's roar, washed away and submitted into silence._ It's going to storm tonight, _she thought to herself, risking a hand to swat away some of the hair that blew into her face._ But we'll drive back home so it will be fine. The kids will want to sleep with us. _The thought made her warm._

 _Mai watched the woman walk along the beach, heart leaping into her throat as she came closer and closer to the dark figure waiting by the docks. She wanted to run forward, wanted to tell the woman to stop because continuing onward could only mean death, but she couldn't. She was stuck where she stood, unable to even turn her head to look for Gene._

 _Not that he would be there for Mai to search for. She could not feel him._

 _Suddenly, the woman came to a stop. She looked up, pretty dark hair still whipping into her face. Her pink lips pulled into a smile, her eyes alighting with recognition. Again, she reached up to tuck her wild hair out of her face as she looked up at the dark figure she knew, mouth opening to say, "Hey -"_

 _Something resembling a hand clamped around Mai's mouth, taking hold of her chin and jerking her head up. "How sneaky, little girl," a voice hissed into her ear, loud enough to wash away even the sound of Mai's rabbiting heart beat. "Never doing what I say, poking your nose where it shouldn't go."_

 _Mai's body burned wherever_ it _touched her, like flames were licking at her skin, but she did not burn. The sky churned darkly, unnaturally so, and the clouds above their heads rumbled with all the uneasiness she felt stirring in her gut._

" _You shine so bright, so tasty, but you cause me so much grief. All that I have here can be yours too if you just," a second hand wrapped around Mai's throat, squeezing until no air could pass, "stopped," a third arm slung itself around Mai's waist and pulled her closer to the fire at her back, sending waves of pain over her exposed skin, "fighting."_

No _, Mai thought desperately. She would fight until it killed her. For Naru's sake. For Oliver. Concentrating all that she was on the astral plane into the strength of her jaw, Mai struggled viciously against the hands holding her in place until she could bite down on the hand over her mouth. Blood spilled into her mouth, only it wasn't blood and it dripped down Mai's chin the same color of the night sky. With a screech of fury and fear, Mai tore away from the body and collapsed onto the sand. The beach erupted into noise, the sound of the waves returning to her just as a horrible gurgling sound reached her ears._

 _Mai spun around and saw that the space that_ it _had taken up was now empty, a tree standing where it had only been seconds before. Rising with trembling legs, Mai turned again to see what was making the horrible gurgling sound and felt her knees turn to jelly. She fell back onto the sand, legs folded underneath her, and sobbed in shock._

 _The woman's bloodied hands clawed at the sand, too weak to scrape deeper than a nail's length despite how much desperation dripped from her soft brown eyes. There was blood all over, spilling steadily from the gashes in the woman's torso, the scrapes on her arms, the cuts across her neck. Some of it bubbled in her mouth, an attempt to plead or beg or say goodbye thwarted by her sliced throat._ I can't be late _, she mourned._ It's her birthday, they're waiting for me.

 _No one was listening. No one but Mai, and she could do nothing as the dark figure dragged the woman across the beach by her ankle, laughing as her trail disappeared behind them so that, come morning, any trace of this woman would be gone forever. Mai watched as they approached the rickety dock, crying steadily as the woman's struggles grew weaker and weaker and still no less desperate. She watched as the figure turned as if to stare right at Mai, and she froze. She could feel its sinister smile as if it were pressed against the skin of her throat._

 _The figure turned back around and dragged the woman onto the dock, taking something out of his pocket and shoving it into the woman's mouth._

 _A hand settled on Mai's shoulder, and she would have screamed if not for the fact that the beach immediately transformed around her. The sky cleared and the ocean calmed and the breeze returned to a gentle croon, and Gene's arms wrapped around Mai tightly._

" _I'm sorry, Mai." He whispered into her hair. "I can't help you, he won't let me close enough."_

" _Not your fault." Mai mumbled, suddenly so tired she could barely keep her own head up. "Watch Naru instead."_

 _Gene laughed, the sound slightly maniacal. He pulled away, letting Mai free of his embrace only for another body to take his place. She ducked her head, crouching just a bit to look into Mai's downturned face. She was beautiful, and pale and dead._

" _Koya." Mai whispered, unsure if her eyes were showing her the truth. The girl in front of her smiled, something equal parts warm and brittle._

" _He kills us to make him stronger." She told Mai hurriedly, taking the investigators face into her hands so that Mai could look nowhere else but into her dark eyes. "He hides in the town, has many shapes so no one ever notices. He was my friend. He said I was special._

" _He's taking from you, using the energy you leak to tie you to him. You're like me, which means he won't stop until he can consume you. He'll take your soul no matter who stands in his way. He has no weakness. I've looked and looked for years. I fought him until the end and so I still fight him now, but he's so strong. Everything around him twists into the ugliest version of itself. He makes the world die a little. You can't let him have you. He's stuck here because this is where he was born, but if he got you he would be strong enough to leave. Mai, you can't let him take you."_

 _Mai blinked, trying desperately to comprehend all the information being thrown at her despite feeling like water slipping through cracks in the glass. "But - but Naru, he'll get hurt. I can't - won't let that happen."_

 _Koya shook her head, wet auburn hair smacking against Mai's cheek. Her lips were turning blue as Mai watched them move. "Everyone hurts. We heal, you have to trust that. Mai, you have to trust him."_

 _Of course she trusted him. Mai trusted Oliver with her life._

" _With his own life." Koya whispered. "Trust that he will go back to you. Because if you don't,_ he _will take you."_

 _Koya's hand dropped from Mai's face, sliding down her arm to stop at her waist where a large red stain ruined her dress. "He's tied the knot Mai. You can't let him take you. You can't. The town keeps his cruelty contained; if it spilled out, the world would break."_

* * *

Oliver watched Mai sleep and methodically scrubbed her blood off his hands. He'd already rubbed them red and raw, but when he looked at them all he could see was the way her blood had dripped, dripped, dripped. She would be okay, the doctor had said, the single doctor this town managed to have, in the single clinic within a 20 mile radius. Oliver had only allowed himself to believe it when Ayako came running through the front doors, eyes wild and afraid. She had shoved the doctor out of her way, and taken Mai's life into her own hands, unable to trust anyone else with something so precious.

The wound was small, Ayako had reported some hours ago. "Small, and clean through. I can't say what caused it, just that it had to be smooth and thin. She'll be okay. All this did was make her bleed."

Mai would be okay. Still, Oliver could not leave the room without remembering vividly how she had gone slack in his arms, head lolling back and warm blood slipping past his fingers. How she had begged him to let her die so he could live. Stupid girl.

She'd better wake up soon so Oliver could give her the talking down of her life. He was furious, fingertips tingling with the force of it. Mai had been hurt, she had bled, and she had told Oliver not to save her. From what? He could only guess, but not even the end of the world could stop him. How could Mai ever think otherwise.

Unbidden, the image of her flushed and tearful face flashed in his memory. She had been cruel to come and say goodbye before he and Lin left for England those many years ago. Oliver had given her the easy way out, explaining to her that Gene had been the twin she fell for in her dreams, given her the chance to step out of his life quietly and spare him the pain of leaving her behind. But she was there anyways, smile sad and eyes burning red but waving still as the car pulled away from the office building. And she had been there we returned, smiling happier and eyes round and gleaming as if nothing had ever happened. As if the wrong twin had not survived to reject her misguided affection. No, she had stood there, older and calmer but still smiling that cheeky smile as she greeted, "Glad to have you back, Naru."

It used to be that it was more important not to love her because she could never love him back. Now, Oliver just needed Mai to open her eyes so he could shout at her until she promised to stay in his heart forever, safe and close to him always. It belonged to her since the beginning; it belonged to her still. He was a fool if he thought he could ever convince himself otherwise. There was no time for such pointless efforts.

"He's goin' to eat me."

Oliver snapped back to reality like the break of a bone, standing from his seat besides Mai's bed before his mind even registered that yes, her eyes were indeed open and yes, the anger was simmering within him just a few degrees away from a raging boil.

"Gotta prom's." She slurred, hand clumsily reaching out for Oliver the second she saw him within reach. "T' come back to me. 'Kay? Can't get eat'n."

"You're delirious." Oliver answered, waving a hand at the nurse on the other side of the room. She started, then quickly darted out to find Ayako - if she was smart. If she brought back that witless doctor, Oliver would lose the little patience he had left. "Stay still, you have seven new stitches."

"Tied." Mai finally wrapped her small fingers around Oliver's hand, intercepting his attempt to disentangle the wires her fussing had crossed. "Tied to it now."

Oliver froze, face almost directly over Mai's so she blinked up at him slowly, owlishly. "Tied to what, Mai."

Instead of answering, Mai smiled. Her face was still pale, but there was color to her lips now. Her other hand came up to pat at Oliver's cheek, doing who knows what to the IV drip stuck into the top of her hand.

"So pretty." She crooned. Her soft fingers smoothed traces over his nose and down his cheek. Oliver refused to move.

"Answer the question."

"Wha' question?"

"You said you were tied to 'it.' What is it?"

"It? D'you mean the scary clown? Don't like clowns, Naru."

"No, not the- Did you dream, Mai?"

"Yeah, wan'ed to be a teacher when I was young."

"I know, Mai. Stop moving, you'll pull your stitches."

"'Itches? Wha' happened?"

"I don't know. You just started bleeding."

"Don't wrinkle. Your eyes are sad when they worry."

"You collapsed from an unexplained injury."

"Maybe I was jus' tired."

"Well, were you?"

"No. I was havin' a good time."

"So why did you collapse?"

"Tied. I told you already, Naru."

When Ayako coughed, Oliver had enough grace to keep from startling. He hadn't noticed her arrival, what with Mai boneless and trying to spill out of her bed. Oliver carefully situated his assistant investigator back onto her pillows, prying her hands away from where they were adamant on smoothing out the wrinkles on his face.

"She's going to be high on morphine for another few hours, Naru. You're going to have to wait until then to interrogate her."

Oliver deigned to frown at the miko, ignoring her startled blink at his clear frustration. "She could be in danger."

Now Ayako's frown mirrored his own. With a heavy sigh, she set her chart down and approached the other side of Mai's bed. Mai's hazy eyes followed the priestess with a fond little smile painting her lips.

"I'm pretty sure she is." Ayako muttered, tucking some errant strands away from Mai's face. "She always is. I don't know how she does it."

They sat for a moment in silence as Mai's eyelids grew heavier and heavier as she slowly slipped back into sleep. Ayako fretted over her quietly, soft and attentive and unashamed. Oliver felt like an intruder as he watched them until Mai's hand in his gave a gentle squeeze. No, he was where he belonged.

"You've been in love with her for years." The woman said eventually. If she was trying to get a reaction from him, she would have to try harder. As much as he tried to ignore this fact, he had known it to be true from the beginning.

After another moment of silence, she continued. "I don't know why you refuse to let her know, but you love her. I can see it every time you look at her, even when you're calling her stupid and making her angry. You'd do anything for her."

Oliver would not waste his breath denying this. He'd done enough of it in his own head, and that hadn't worked. But his patience was waning, and whatever point Ayako was trying to make would do better to make itself known sooner rather than later.

Ayako, a woman Oliver deduced to be quite observant from the get-go, picked up on his ire and gave an annoyed huff. "I'm trying to tell you that if you, the idiot genius completely in love with our genius idiot, could not keep her from getting hurt, then absolutely nothing on this plane of existence could have stopped it. So don't beat yourself up about it."

Without waiting for a response, Ayako stood and placed a single kiss to Mai's temple. "I'll go let the others know she woke up and make sure they eat. You have fifteen minutes to brood before I come back here and shove five bento boxes worth of rice down your throat."

She left with a flip of her hair, thinking herself kind and knowing as she left the two youngest members alone. Oliver could not say she was wrong.

In the empty room, with Mai sleeping soundly right beside him, Oliver let his shoulders slump and the defeated sigh to pass through his lips.

"Damn it, Mai."

* * *

Mai woke again some few hours later, much more lucid and pink faced. Still, she kept her hand in Oliver's as the rest of the team swarmed her bed, half of them berating her for getting injured _again_ and the other half doting over her completely. Over Oliver's shoulder, the young man felt Lin give a reassuring squeeze.

"It's not my fault!" Mai whined. She waved her freshly bandaged hands at Masako's glower, pouting as the medium looked away with a sniff. "Really, I don't understand what happened. Don't be upset."

"It was a perfectly good dress, Mai. Now I'm going to have to buy you a new one."

Floundering, Mai looked to Oliver as if he would know how to help her. He gazed back at her blankly. She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to her friend. "You - actually, I can't stop you from doing that but you don't have to! I'll never wear a dress on a case again."

"Because bleeding all over a t-shirt is any better." Takigawa huffed. "No, you're just not allowed to be outside of my line of sight ever again. I'm sorry but I do in fact make the rules."

"No!" Mai groaned, indignant as ever. "Naru makes the rules."

As one, SPR turned to Oliver. He watched them watch him, and then looked away. "Sounds reasonable."

Mai groaned again, flopping back on her pillows and turning pleading eyes heavenwards. _I'm an adult_ , she mouthed at the ceiling.

"You're a danger magnet." Oliver corrected. Mai dropped her arms over her face and whined.

"Okay, okay!" Ayako laughed, waving away the others so she could stand by Mai's bed. "Enough teasing. You need to relax or you'll pull your stitches."

"Then let me go back to the beach." Mai uncovered her face. The laughter and the lightness was gone from her expression. "There's something there, I know it. I just need to find it and _see_ it, and then everything will make more sense."

"Not today." Oliver replied, his tone of that which allowed no argument. "Tonight, we're going to stay at an inn, Lin's already made all of the arrangements. We'll return to the house tomorrow morning no later than eight."

"Thank goodness." John smiled, extending a hand to steady Takigawa as the monk stumbled on his crutches. "I think we all need a little break."

"I agree." Several heads turned to Oliver in surprise, not sure if they heard correctly. "There's been no progress in our investigation and too much excitement. Clear your heads tonight so we can solve this case tomorrow and be done with it."

"Aye, captain." Takigawa saluted, tumbling into Ayako without his crutch. She caught him with minimal complaint.

"Is the inn the one across from the yellow bakery?" Masako asked Lin. It was almost absurd just how much she had to crane her neck back to be able to look him in the eye.

"Yes."

"Good."

When the nurse returned with Mai's discharge papers, it took the team a while to clear the room. Most of their time was spent fussing over Mai as she was helped out of bed then changed out of the sick gown and into a loose button up that was probably Takigawa's and a pair of soft pants that were definitely Masako's. After all their things were gathered and they were finally ready to head out, there was an actual argument over who got to help walk Mai out to the van that got heated enough that Mai was able to link her arm with Lin's and sneak out before anyone (but Oliver) could notice.

"Noll asked me to rent out a large suite so we could stay together in one room." Lin told her as they walked out of the entrance Mai could not recalling entering through. Hearing this, Mai smiled fondly; Oliver was the biggest worrier she had ever known.

Looking up at the Chinese man, Mai eyed the dark bruise over his temple and frowned. "How's your head feeling? I'll make you some tea when we get settled. I'm sure Masako knew to pack the kettle and everything."

Lin smiled kindly and helped her into the van just as the rest of SPR spilled out of the clinic. Mai took that to mean a yes, and carefully reached over to the front to grab the sun glasses she always kept in the glove box. Lin took them graciously when Mai held them out for him, and slipped them on as he climbed into the seat behind her. Concussions were the worst.

Ayako launched herself into the driver's seat, holding out her hand until Oliver sighed and handed them over. He climbed into the seat beside Mai, the entire line of his body pressing against hers as John slid into the seat beside him.

Once everyone was situated, Ayako started the van and waited for Takigawa, her shotgun, to pull up the directions for the inn. "Everyone ready? Yes? And Mai, honey, how are you doing?"

Mai gleamed, throwing two thumbs up. "The pain medication is still working its magic and I'm only a little drowsy. Nothing a quick nap won't fix."

Satisfied, Ayako began the short drive down to the inn. She was mindful to keep the radio low, and drove slowly as to not jostle the many injured persons inside the van as they meandered down the cobbled roads. Mai, made more drowsy by the gentle motion of the vehicle as it traveled, let her head loll over onto Oliver's shoulder. Somewhere between getting into the van and setting off, Oliver's hand had slipped back into Mai's. It drove her a little crazy, this sudden ease of contact between them two. Just a week ago, Oliver would have kept a careful distance when sitting next to her. Now, Mai could feel his pulse pressed against her wrist and feel the expanding of his chest with every breath. She wanted to know what it meant. He didn't react like this any other time Mai was injured. Sure, he fretted in his own way (which usually involved a lot of anger, insulting and silent treatments) but never had he held Mai the way he was at the moment. She could remember the arc of his touch as he cradled her on the sidewalk, her blood all over his hands. It had been so gentle just the memory of it brings tears to her eyes. She blinks them away, because Oliver has always been gentle. Maybe not openly, but the truth of it lived in his center, always.

Lin spoke behind them, and Oliver turned to answer him. Mai was too tired to make out their words, but she hummed at the press of Oliver's chin to the top of her head.

So what if this meant nothing at all. Mai could live with that. She felt too safe in the embrace of his warmth to ever want to give it up. Like this, she could make sure he was safe. Distantly, she felt the rumble of his voice both on her head and at her shoulder where they were pressed together. It soothed her, pushing away any remnants of fear from her dream. She had recounted all she could remember before after Ayako forced the two of them to eat more than a bowl of rice, and though Oliver and Lin had shared multiple glances at one another, Mai was not sure they knew what any of it meant. But Mai had been rejuvenated. For Koya, for Oliver, for her team and herself, she would figure this out and no one would get hurt. She swore it.

Feeling when Mai went soft at his side, Oliver carefully used his chin to tip her head onto his shoulder, knowing that otherwise it would bob around aimlessly in her sleep and then she would wake complaining about an ache in her neck. Over her head, Lin gave him a pointed look. First Ayako, now Lin? Oliver didn't need any more patience, he needed restraint. Sensing his ward's ire, Lin smirked and looked away, sliding Mai's sunglasses back up from their perch at the tip of his nose. He leaned back against the seat and slipped back into his peaceful daze.

Oliver, after making sure Mai wasn't slumped over enough to pull her stitches, mimicked Lin's position and let his eyes fall shut. It was early, and they'd all had a sleepless night. However Ayako was managing to keep her eyes open, Oliver was impressed. He could stay awake for days at a time if need be, but after watching Mai get hurt, not being able to do anything and not knowing if it was even possible for her to be safe in this town, Oliver felt like he could sleep for years. He planned to allow himself a few hours, no more than three hours, and then he would work out what exactly it meant that Mai was tied to an entity that existed only to make young women drown themselves.

Unfortunately, the drive to the inn was a very short one and the lot of them were pulling into the tiny parking lot in less than ten minutes. The sun was high in the sky and warmed Oliver's skin the second he stepped out of the van. Masako and John took it upon themselves to check in and get their room keys, and Ayako and Oliver grabbed the overnight bags from the van.

"I don't even know what time it is." Mai muttered as she very slowly slipped out of the van with Lin's help. He still wore her sunglasses, and was notably more tight lipped than he had been a few minutes before. Ayako also noticed, and without prompting began to sift through her over-sized handbag to find his pain relief medicine.

"It's only one in the afternoon." Takigawa answered, taking a bag from the distracted Ayako and slinging it over his back. Once Ayako found the medicine, she tossed them over to Lin who, despite seeming completely checked out of the conversation, catches them easily. Then, the miko turned around and yanked the stolen bag from her boyfriend and returns it to the load over her shoulders.

"We lost a whole day?" Mai's eyes widened, amber brown drowning in guilt.

Ayako was really dedicated to having a no-nonsense kind of day. She held a hand up before Mai could say a word. "Absolutely not. We weren't going to get anything done, and we all very much need a break."

Silenced for the moment, Mai smiled softly and then smiled harder when Oliver offered his arm to her. Hooked together, they made their slow way to the front of the inn, lagging behind the others who were also moving very slowly, Ayako supporting Takigawa and both John and Masako, room keys in hand, leading Lin as he presumably kept his eyes closed. They must have been a sight. Mai wondered what they looked like to others who had no context.

"I'm going to sleep well tonight." Mai mused, hand pressed against her bandage as the pain began to make itself known. "Unless I project, but I don't think I will."

"No?"

"It's too much too soon, I think. Whatever he - it is, it did what it wanted to do. It's my move now."

"Do you have a plan?"

"Of course not." Mai laughed. "I'm reactionary. Instinct is my decision maker, and it usually steers me well. Right now, it says 'Go to the beach house,' but that's not an option right now."

"You would be horrible at chess." Oliver said, holding the door open for Mai. They walked in, taking in the pale blue walls and whispy decor. Their team was disappearing down the hall to the left, and the youngest pair of investigators followed them at a leisurely pace.

"I want to argue, but I think you're right. I'm not very good at anticipating someone else's actions. Like, really bad." After all, Mai had never thought it possible for Oliver to voluntarily hold her hand outside of any kind of necessity. He wasn't now, but he had! The next time she managed to get herself alone, she was going to recall the sensation in detail and try very hard to ignore the flicker of hope coming to life inside of her.

"I thought we already discussed this, Mai. I'm always right." Oliver watched the door to their suite close behind Takigawa and felt the urge to sigh. Mai reached over to knock, but the loud noises of Ayako complementing the room probably drowned the soft noise out. "Do you not know how to knock?"

"Hey!" Mai exclaimed, affronted. "I am probably the most capable knocker in this team. How many times a day do I have to knock on your office door because you refuse to ever leave the door open? It's a big number, Naru. A very big number."

"I have superior hearing, obviously. Those imbeciles are too loud to hear your child knocks."

"Child?" Outraged, Mai pulled her arm away from Oliver and spun (carefully, hand still pressed against her side) to face him. "What do you mean 'child?' I've grown, Naru, at least a whole foot since we met! And - and I've put on muscle mass, Yasuhara says so!"

"What makes Yasuhara a reliable voice?" Oliver questioned. His brows flickered for a moment, so quickly that Mai couldn't find herself distracted by what they revealed. "He's just as small as you."

"Oh." Mai growled, the playful nature of their exchange making her light on her feet. "You're lucky I'm injured right now or else I'd kick you right in your stupid face. Try and call me 'child' with my foot in your mouth."

"You wouldn't reach."

"I would if I kick you in the -"

The door swung open and Mai turned to look at Masako like a deer caught in headlights. The fist she raised to Oliver's face dropped slowly at Masako's knowing look.

"Shut up." Mai said on principle. "I need to make Lin tea."

She walked passed Masako, chin up and eyes glinting down her nose. Her indifference was tampered by the blank-faced Oliver she dragged along with her, his amusement twinkling in his blue eyes and pulling at the ends of his lips. Masako was easily distracted by his small smile, and the delight in her eyes changed to something much louder.

Still smiling quietly, Oliver let himself sigh internally. Really, everyone could see how he felt about Mai, even when he did his best to ignore those feelings and pretend they did not exist. Everyone but Mai.

The universe was fair. That, or Mai was his punishment sent to him from whatever powers that be. Either way, he wasn't sure if he minded.


End file.
